Feb 9 (Reuters) - Formula One newcomers Cadillac may finish last this season but Sergio Perez will be disappointed if they do.
The Mexican and equally-experienced Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas are multiple race winners who know their way around the world's circuits and both feel they have something to achieve.
The General Motors-backed team make their race debut in Australia on March 8 with Ferrari engines and have recruited heavily from rivals since securing an entry as the 11th outfit on the starting grid.
"We are definitely not having that mindset (of being last)," Perez, 36, told Reuters ahead of Cadillac launching their 2026 livery with an advert during Sunday's Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks in Santa Clara, California.
"Not with the level of investment that has been put in place.
"We will definitely be very disappointed to finish last. We know we will not win the championship for sure, but we definitely want to make a lot of progress and beat a couple of teams."
Perez had a year out last year after parting from Red Bull at the end of 2024 but he said Cadillac felt like getting the band back together.
His race engineer at Cadillac will be Italian Carlo Pasetti, who worked with the Mexican at Racing Point (now Aston Martin).
"This is a team that has recruited people from basically all the teams that I've been with," said Perez, who started with Sauber and has also raced for Force India, McLaren, Racing Point and Red Bull.
"I think this team, this structure, has the capacity to go a very long way in the sport. I think it's going to become a very important team in the future of Formula One."
Bottas agreed it was a huge project and saw the Super Bowl advert as a clear statement of intent with an expected U.S. television and streaming platform audience in excess of 120 million people.
"It was pretty much what I expected," he said of the launch plan. "From the beginning I knew the team is going all in. And of course we're trying to reach new fans. They always said from the top that they were going large on everything.
"But it's pretty cool... that's going to reach quite a few eyeballs, which is good."
Bottas said it would take time for the on-track performance to match the ambition and he was trying to take "all the best bits" from his years with Williams, Mercedes and Sauber.
"I'm prepared that it could be a tough start," said the Finn. "And I don't mind if we don't start in a great way. Of course I want to. But if we don't, then that's where we are.
"It's not really where we start from, it's where we end up together. And that's the motivation."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Clare Fallon)
