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02 8014 7500Sergio Perez
In 2011 Perez became only the 5th Mexican to compete in Formula One – the Grand Prix has since returned to the F1 calendar for the first time since 1992.
PERSONAL:
“Checo”
Born: 26/01/1990 in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Height: 1.73m
Net Worth: $30 million
Nickname: ‘The Mexican Wunderkind’
“As a Formula One driver, you dream about winning your first race all your life. I am desperate to know what it feels like.”
F1 RACING STATS:
Team: Force India-Mercedes
Car No: 11
Wins: 0
Grand Prix Starts: 108 (entries 111)
Career points: 332
Podiums: 7
Championship Wins: 0
Pole Positions: 0
Fastest laps: 3
An exciting, relentlessly competitive driver; his 5 year Formula One career has already seen some ups and downs. An incredible season at Sauber in 2012 was followed by his dream job at McLaren becoming a bit of a nightmare. He is currently enjoying successes at Force India.
Perez is a member of Escuderia Telmex which supports racing drivers in a variety of categories. In November 2012 he set up the Checo Perez Foundation; designed to support orphans and children with cancer. His sister Paola is president.
CAREER:
Karting: Started competitive karting aged 6, winning 4 races in his first year and coming 2nd in the championship. Over the next 7 years he won 5 championships.
2004: Made the move to car racing at the age of 14, with the support of Mexican businessman Carlos Slim’s Escuderia Telmex; at the US based Skip Barber National championship.
2005: Perez moved to Europe and competed in the German Formula BMW ADAC with Team Rosberg. He stayed for 4 months in a restaurant owned by his team manager. He finished 14th in the championship.
2006: Competed in the A1 Grand Prix and achieved a podium in his 2nd race at Hockenheim. He eventually finished 6th in the championship.
2007: British Formula 3 championship. Competed in National Class (for older chassis) with T-Sport team and won comfortably, with victory in two-thirds of the races.
2008: Formula 3, International Class – he finished 4th - with 4 wins, 7 podiums and 1 fastest lap. Perez also competed in the GP2 Asia Series Season, driving for Campos Grand Prix team partnering Vitaly Petrov. He became the youngest ever winner in the category after victory from pole in the Bahrain sprint race at Sakhir. There followed a second win in Qatar at Losail.
2009: Competed at the European GP2 with Arden International – his result of the season was 2nd at Valencia.
2010: Ferrari Driver Academy. Perez came 2nd in the GP2 Series behind Pastor Maldonado; following an impressive season - with wins in Monaco, Britain, Germany, Belgium and Abu Dhabi.
2011: Formula One with Sauber, alongside team mate Kamui Kobayashi. Became the 5th Mexican to compete in Formula One (the 1st since Hector Rebaque 1977-81). Cynics suggested that he only got the Sauber deal because of Telmex’s new partnership with the team. No podium, but achieved points in 5 races and finished 16th with 14 points; a fair debut campaign.
2012: He achieved his 1st Formula One podium at the Malaysian Grand Prix coming 2nd following an impressive battle with Fernando Alonso. He took another two podiums with 2nd in Italy and 3rd in Canada. Following Lewis Hamilton’s departure from McLaren – Perez was named as his replacement.
2013: McLaren, alongside team mate Jenson Button; the car failed to deliver the team a single podium finish. He ended the season 11th in the drivers’ championship with 11 point finishes. His dream job at McLaren had ended before it had really begun and for the 2014 season Perez was to be replaced by Kevin Magnussen.
Jenson Button commenting on Sergio Perez following the Bahrain GP: “I've had some tough fights in F1 but not quite as dirty as that. Soon something serious will happen so he has to calm down. He's extremely quick and he did a great job today but some of it is unnecessary and an issue when you are doing those speeds.”
2014: Perez signed by Vijay Mallya to Force India in a 15 million euro deal. Team mate Nico Hulkenberg finished 37 points ahead of Perez. Bahrain Grand Prix was memorable again – this time for the right reasons – as Perez took 3rd place. He finished 10th in the drivers’ championship, with 12 points finishes.
2015: He eventually finished 9th in the drivers’ championship; this time beating team mate Hulkenberg by 20 points. He achieved a podium in Russia (3rd) and 12 points finishes.
2016-21 Seasons
2016: “Uncompetitive Car”
Finished: 7th
Podiums: 2
Wins: 0
Retirements: 0
Team: Force India, Nico Hulkenberg
Perez suffered a difficult start to the season – with 13th place in Australia, 16th in Bahrain and 11th in China. The VJM09 car proving uncompetitive. He did manage a finish in the points with 9th at the Russian Grand Prix before upgrades were made for the Spanish Grand Prix – and 7th place was the reward.
3rd place in Monaco gave Perez his 6th career podium and Force India’s 4th. The race had been wet and challenging, but Perez’s tyre management strategy proved a success.
At the European Grand Prix in Baku, Perez took another podium. He had been fast enough to qualify in the top 2 – but received a penalty for a gearbox change (as a consequence of a crash in free practice) and he started in 7th. An excellent drive saw him pass Raikkonen on the last lap to take 3rd.
2017: “Clashes with Ocon”
Finished: 7th
Podiums: 0
Wins: 0
Retirements: 1
Team: Force India, Esteban Ocon
Perez signed a contract with Force India for 2017, settling rumours of a move to Williams, Haas or Renault.
By the Monaco Grand Prix, Perez had built up 17 ‘points finishes’ in a row. But a collision with Daniil Kvyat in Monaco left him with a disappointing 13th place finish.
He also clashed on a couple of occasions with teammate Esteban Ocon – in Canada he refused to let Ocon through to challenge Ricciardo for 3rd place. And Perez was set up to challenge for the win at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, before a collision with Ocon forced him to retire.
2018: “Team Turmoil”
Finished: 8th
Podiums: 1
Wins: 0
Retirements: 2
Team: Force India (Sahara Force India & Racing Point Force India) Esteban Ocon
In a repeat of the 2016 season, Perez had another difficult start: 11th in Australia, 16th in Bahrain and 12th in China.
He then, however, achieved 3rd place in Baku at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix – in a race full of chaos and incident. In doing so, he became the first driver to finish on the podium twice in Baku after taking 3rd from Sebastian Vettel with only a few laps to go.
In France he retired with engine failure.
In July, Perez was one of a group of creditors whose legal action led to Force India being put into administration after the Hungarian Grand Prix. Shortly before the Belgian Grand Prix, Force India’s assets were purchased by a consortium led by Lawrence Stroll (father of driver Lance Stroll) and they became Racing Point Force India.
With finances settled, the team achieved an impressive 5th (Perez) and 6th (Ocon) place finish in Belgium.
The remainder of the season saw greater consistency from Perez as he finished in the points 7 times in 9 races.
The Singapore Grand Prix saw controversy as Perez collided with Ocon (again) on the opening lap – causing his teammate to crash into a wall and retire. He then also collided with Sergey Sirotkin and received a ‘drive through’ penalty – which he accepted as just.
Perez was the only non-Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull driver to finish on the podium in 2018.
2019: “A Struggle for Consistency”
Finished: 10th
Podiums: 0
Wins: 0
Retirements: 2
Team: SportPesa Racing Point, Lance Stroll
A difficult start to the season for Racing Point as the previous year’s wrangling appeared to get in the way of creating the new car for 2019.
The first half of the season saw Perez fail to finish in the points for 8 consecutive races from the Spanish Grand Prix to the Hungarian Grand Prix.
However, the second half of the season saw consistency improve: as Perez scored points in every race - except Singapore when an oil leak forced him to retire.
These points included some impressive achievements: a 7th place finish in Italy from an 18th place start, an 8th place finish in Japan from 17th and a 10th place finish in the USA from a pit lane start.
Perez finished the season 10th in the championship, again ahead of his teammate.
2020: “4th Place in the Drivers’ Championship”
Finished: 4th
Podiums: 2
Wins: 1
Retirements: 1
Team: BWT Racing Point, Lance Stroll
Perez had signed a contract for Racing Point until the end of 2022 - but left at the end of the year – as Sebastian Vettel replaced him in a team that was renamed (again) Aston Martin.
He tested positive at the British Grand Prix and the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix a week later – missing both races. He was replaced by Nico Hulkenberg.
His comeback at the Spanish Grand Prix saw him finish 5th.
Perez later achieved his 9th career podium at the Turkish Grand Prix – finishing in 2nd place.
During the Bahrain Grand Prix in November, Perez ran in 3rd for most of the race - before an electrical issue with a few laps to go forced him to retire with the power unit in flames.
Sakhir saw Perez win his first Formula One race in spectacular fashion. He was hit by Leclerc on the 1st lap and went from 2nd place to 18th (and last) – Perez then worked his way methodically up the grid until eventually taking the lead on Lap 64 (after pit errors and a puncture affected race leader George Russell) where he held on for the win.
In doing so he became the 110th Formula One race winner. It was also the first win for a Mexican driver since the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix with Pedro Rodriguez.
Perez finished the season a career-best of 4th place in the championship.
2021: “A New Start”
Finished: 4th
Podiums: 5
Wins: 1
Retirements: 2
Team: Red Bull, Max Verstappen
Perez replaced Alexander Albon at Red Bull for 2021, partnering Max Verstappen.
He came 5th in the opening race in Bahrain after starting from the pit lane.
The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix saw Perez qualify in 2nd only 0.035 seconds behind pole Lewis Hamilton. It was Perez’s first time starting in the front row.
At the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in June, Perez started in 6th (he qualified in 7th, but moved to 6th following a grid penalty for Lando Norris) and by Lap 8 he was running in 3rd. He then passed Hamilton to take 2nd, where he ran for most of the race. A tyre failure for teammate and race leader Verstappen put Perez in front. The Mexican finished in 1st place and achieved his 2nd career win - his first for Red Bull.
Perez then achieved his second consecutive podium (for the first time) as he took 3rd at the French Grand Prix. He narrowly missed out on a 3rd consecutive podium (by half a second) taking 4th place at the Styrian Grand Prix.
In Belgium, Perez crashed on the way to the grid. The car was fixed in time for the race, but he had to start at the back. Weather conditions red-flagged the race after just 2 laps under the safety car – meaning Perez didn’t get an opportunity to move up the grid and he finished in 20th. This later became 19th due to a Lance Stroll penalty.
Perez later took 3 consecutive podiums with 3rd in Turkey, USA and Mexico.
He finished with 190 points and took 4th in the championship for the second year running.
