Sergio Perez turned what looked like Cadillac’s first Formula 1 point into a P15 finish at the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix after two penalties rewrote his race. He was hit with a drive-through at the start for being out of position, then lost his P10 result to a 10-second time penalty after the finish.
The punishment came on a day when Monaco’s stewards handed out penalties almost everywhere they looked. Perez had appeared to be on course for P10 and, for a brief moment, Cadillac’s breakthrough point in Formula 1, but the post-race decision erased that result and left the team still waiting for its first score.
The issue began before the race had properly settled. Perez had pulled into P16 on the grid rather than P18, and earlier on the way to the start he also made a practice start in the wrong position during his reconnaissance lap to the grid, drawing a reprimand. Once the lights went out, the stewards said he was again out of position and sent him for a drive-through.
There was another problem after the restart. Officials found that Perez’s front right wheel was outside the starting box, which brought the 10-second time penalty that eventually pushed him back to P15. That was the call that mattered most, because it changed the final classification and removed the point that had seemed to be in Cadillac’s hands.
For Perez, the scale of the setback was simple. A P10 finish in Monaco is the kind of result teams remember, especially when it would have marked a first point for a new manufacturer. Instead, the race ended with a reprimand, a drive-through and a post-race penalty, all in one afternoon.
Monaco itself was full of similar disputes. George Russell received a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane before a drive-through for failing to serve it correctly, while Nico Hulkenberg was given 10 seconds for causing a collision with Carlos Sainz. Pierre Gasly crossed the line in P3 before two separate five-second pit-lane penalties dropped him to P7, and Alpine asked the FIA for a Right of Review after those calls. Lewis Hamilton kept P2 after a five-second pit-lane penalty and no further action on an alleged Safety Car infringement, and Franco Colapinto also had a pit-lane penalty but escaped further sanction over an alleged collision with Sainz.
That leaves Cadillac’s first real chance at a Formula 1 point hanging in the balance of stewards’ decisions, not outright pace. Perez had the result on the road; the paperwork took it away.
