Sergio Pérez

1. Who is Sergio Pérez?

Sergio Pérez is a Mexican racing driver. He was born on January 26, 1990 in Guadalajara. He has been driving in Formula 1 since 2011 and is driving for Red Bull this season.

2. Sergio Pérez’s Junior Course

Pérez's single-seater career began in 2004, in the Skip Barber National Championship, in the United States. From the age of 14, Sergio Pérez was supported by Carlos Slim through the company Telmex, a telecommunications giant. The following year, he left for Europe to participate in the German Formula BMW championship but without real success, finishing only fourteenth in 2005, then sixth in 2006.

Sergio Pérez during a GP2 race in Valencia in 2009 ©Thierry Bovy

Sergio Pérez signed with the T-Sport team in 2007 and became British Formula 3 champion in the National Class category with fourteen victories. Perez only finished fourth the following season in this same championship. He entered the GP2 Asia Series in 2009 where he won two victories. His move to the GP2 Series was more notable in 2010, with four victories including one in Monaco and a second place in the drivers' standings.

3. Sergio Pérez’s Grand Prix (F1) journey

The combo of top speed and support from Telmex allowed Sergio Perez to obtain a seat in Formula 1 for the 2011 season. He then signed with Sauber, alongside the Japanese Kamui Kobayashi. He had a solid first race with a seventh place. Unfortunately, a non-compliant front wing will deprive Sergio Pérez of his good result, as well as that of Kobayashi.

Sergio Pérez during the Japanese Grand Prix in 2011 © François Flamand / DPPI

His 2011 season was marked in particular by his serious accident in Monaco under the tunnel. He suffered a concussion and a thigh sprain. He will miss the Monaco Grand Prix but also that of Canada, two weeks later. Sergio Perez convinced the Swiss team with his performances to extend him for 2012, but not only that. In fact, “Checo”, a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, is carrying out tests at the end of the year with a 60 F2009, with the aim of driving for the Scuderia.

Sergio Pérez begins a 2012 campaign with big results including his 2nd position at the Malaysian Grand Prix. Fighting throughout the race for victory, he had to cede command of the Grand Prix to Alonso in the final laps. Despite a checkered season, due to an underperforming Sauber on certain tracks, he reached two other podiums in Canada and Italy ahead of Alonso and de Massa. Its results are therefore very promising. Expected to join Ferrari to replace Massa, Sergio Perez will ultimately sign for another top team: McLaren. The objective of the Woking team is to fight against Red Bull for the constructors' title.

But McLaren managers are not entirely convinced by the recruitment of the Mexican, perceived as being too young and too inexperienced to enter this structure. It is therefore Martin Whitmarsh who will impose this choice, with the consequences that we know today. His record for this Formula 1 season is generally disappointing. Dominated by his teammate Jenson Button, we remember more an arrogant and aggressive Perez at the wheel of the McLaren than good results which are all too rare. While McLaren signs a historic partnership with Honda, the English team's project does not include Perez. “Checo” therefore falls back on a mid-pack team: Force India.

Sergio Pérez during the Mexican Grand Prix at Force India in 2018 © Florent Gooden / DPPI

In 2014, Sergio Pérez faced a tough teammate in the person of Nico Hülkenberg. If the German enters the points in the first ten races, Perez is on the other hand the only one to climb on the podium, during the Bahrain Grand Prix. But his aggressiveness sometimes still fails him like in Canada where he crashed into the wall with Massa on the last lap when he could score big points for Force India. He finished the 2014 season in tenth place behind Hulkenberg, a mixed result. The two drivers continue their collaboration in 2015. And this time, it is the Mexican who finishes in front of his teammate. Despite a car that was little improved compared to the previous year, he finished once on the podium during the Russian Grand Prix after the collision between Kimi Raïkkönen and Valtteri Bottas.

His season will be especially marked by the return of his national Grand Prix in Mexico where he will finish in 8th position. In 2016, the season was more successful with 2 podiums in city circuits, namely Monaco and Baku. His consistency allowed him to finish in seventh place in the championship with 101 points. The following year, Perez welcomed a new teammate to his side: Esteban Ocon. An association which will be explosive for two seasons between the two men, as they stuck together on the track, as in Belgium but also in Baku in 2017. These incidents led Force India to give team instructions. In 2019, Lance Stroll becomes Sergio Perez's new teammate in the new Racing Point entity. The financially exhausted team cannot compete with its opponents. Pérez's best results this season? Two sixth places…

Sergio Pérez and his first victory at the Sakhir Grand Prix in 2020 © Antonin Vincent / DPPI

The big change comes especially in 2019 for the Mexican driver. With the Racing Point RP20, he finally has a car capable of playing at the forefront. Despite missing two races after contracting COVID-19, he finished in fourth place in the drivers' standings. This season, he especially won his first success during the Sakhir Grand Prix ahead of Ocon and Stroll, two drivers he knows very well. Sergio Pérez scored Racing Point's first, and only, victory at the pinnacle of motorsport.

The arrival of Sebastian Vettel, from Ferrari, ejects him from Aston Martin. But his victory finally convinced Red Bull who were looking for a successor to Alexander Albon for the 2021 season. This is the first time since Mark Webber that Milton Keynes has hired a driver outside his firm. The task is difficult for Perez who will have to compare with Max Verstappen, who is fighting for the world champion title against Lewis Hamilton. Everyone promises him the hell of management specific to Red Bull…

Sergio Pérez on his RB16B ©Antonin Vincent / DPPI

During a 2021 season of all superlatives, Sergio Pérez experienced a complicated start to the season, where he had to find his place within Red Bull, and tame the wild RB16B. In the Milton Keynes team, where Max Verstappen enjoys the status of undisputed leader, the Mexican managed to score big points. In Baku, he scored his first victory for the Red Bull team, taking advantage of the misfortunes of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. At the end of the season, he showed that he was at the same level as the best by climbing onto the podium several times, including for his national Grand Prix. His consistency in results, and his defeat to allow his teammate Max Verstappen to open his world record by retaining Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, managed to convince Red Bull to extend Sergio Pérez for an additional season.

4. AutoHebdo review of Sergio Pérez

Often labeled as a paying driver during his career, Sergio Pérez nevertheless has some serious driving skills. Unfortunately, he didn't often have the car to allow him to demonstrate his full potential. His time with Red Bull will remain a turning point in his career: by showing his ability to fight and put himself at the service of the cause of Max Verstappen, in his fight for the title against Lewis Hamilton, he showed that Red Bull was right to bet on him!

5. Learn more about Sergio Pérez

Sergio Pérez extends his contract with Red Bull for the 2022 season

Sergio Pérez, the right to win

Pérez: Competing against Verstappen at Red Bull, “a big challenge”