Sergio Pérez

**Sergio Pérez Mendoza** , nicknamed "**Checo**", is a Mexican racing driver who races in Formula 1.5 for Racing Point, having previously driven for Sauber, McLaren and Force India. Perez won the 2016 and 2017 F1.5 Drivers championship with Force India.

Pérez was a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy until 2012. He made his Formula 1.5 debut driving for Sauber during the 2011 season. He took his first Formula One podium at the 2011 British Grand Prix with Sauber. Due to his young age and performance, he was referred to as "The Mexican Wunderkind". Pérez joined McLaren for the 2013 season, but was let go at the end of the season.

Force India signed Pérez in for the 2014 season with a €15 million deal. He remained with Force India after they went into administration in the latter half of 2018, and then their reformation as Racing Point F1 in 2019. In 2019, Racing Point signed a three-year extension with Pérez. However, he later announced he would be leaving the team at the end of the 2020 season because the team decided to replace him with Sebastian Vettel. Perez moved to Red Bull Racing for 2021 which saw him be promoted, to F1 for the first time.

## Personal Life

Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Pérez is the youngest child of Antonio Pérez Garibay and Marilú Mendoza de Pérez; he also has an older sister Paola and an older brother Antonio, a retired stock car racing driver who competed in the NASCAR Mexico Series. Pérez is married to Carola Martínez, and they have two children. Pérez is a Roman Catholic.

Both Pérez brothers are association football fans, stating that they thought about leaving car racing to play professionally. The brothers are friends of Mexican international Javier Hernández.

In November 2012, Pérez unveiled the Checo Pérez Foundation to support orphans and children with cancer. His sister Paola was the foundation's president.

## F1.5 Career

### **Sauber (2011-2012)**

#### **2011 Season**

On 4 October 2010, Sauber announced that Pérez would join the team in 2011, replacing Nick Heidfeld. Sauber subsequently announced a partnership with Pérez's sponsor Telmex.

Pérez finished second in his first race, the Australian Grand Prix, impressing observers by stopping to change tyres only once, becoming the only driver in the field to make fewer than two stops. However, both Sauber cars were subsequently disqualified for infringing technical regulations. He failed to repeat the result in Malaysia where body parts flew off Sébastien Buemi's Toro Rosso car and into the electrical system of Pérez's Sauber, forcing his retirement. The Chinese Grand Prix saw him start in 7th position and he struggled during the race as well as making contact with several drivers en route to 11th. He followed that up with 8th in Turkey, before a fourth-place finish in Spain – ahead of teammate Kamui Kobayashi.

During the third part of qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, Pérez lost control of his car upon exiting the circuit's tunnel section, swung to the right and crashed into the barrier, before sliding across the chicane and hitting the TecPro barrier with a heavy side impact. He was seen holding his hands around his head in an attempt to protect it just before the final impact. The session was suspended, and marshals and medical personnel extricated Pérez from his car. A Sauber team spokesman said that he was conscious and able to talk after the accident, and had been taken to the circuit's medical centre. He suffered a sprained thigh and concussion, and did not take part in the race the following day, on medical grounds. After taking part in the first practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix, Pérez did not feel well enough and decided not to take any further part, and was replaced by Pedro de la Rosa.

Pérez returned for the European Grand Prix and finished fith after attempting to run the race on a one-stop strategy. He took a maiden podium at the British Grand Prix, finishing 2nd. He finished 6th in Germany. After a ninth place in Hungary, he retired in Belgium with suspension failure. This was followed by a gearbox failure while running seventh in Italy, before he scored 12 ponts in Singapore. In Japan he took 2nd place, before a tenth-place finish in Korea, fith in India, and an sixth-place finish in Abu Dhabi. He finished tenth in the Drivers' Championship with 107 points.

#### **2012 Season**

Pérez started the season with second place at the Australian Grand Prix, whilst in Malaysia he won his first F1.5 Grand Prix. Many observers praised his performance despite his late-race error, taking Sauber's best result as an independent team. This drive won him plaudits and fuelled speculation of a move to Ferrari in the near future. However, Pérez later told reporters that he expected to stay with Sauber until at least the end of the 2012 season.

At the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix, he qualified on the second row in 4th alongside his teammate, but finished the race in fith place after problems with pit strategy and also his car's clutch. He then went on to finish 4th at the next race in Bahrain, retiring in Spain and fith in Monaco with the fastest lap. Pérez achieved his second career F1.5 win at the Canadian Grand Prix.

In the European Grand Prix, Pérez qualified in 8th place, citing a handling imbalance and the car feeling "unpredictable" as reasons for the gap to Kobayashi. He improved to fith place in the race, but raised poor qualifying form as an issue for the team. On lap 12 of the British Grand Prix, he collided with Pastor Maldonado, forcing him to retire with broken suspension. He later criticised the Venezuelan, claiming "Everybody has concerns about him" before adding, "He is a driver who doesn't know that we are risking our lives and has no respect at all". Maldonado received a double penalty in the form of a reprimand and a €10,000 fine after the race. Pérez later added: "Just look at the last races. He ruined Hamilton's race (in Valencia), he ruined my race in Monaco by doing stupid things. I don't understand why the stewards don't take a serious decision with him. With Pastor they're not doing anything that will teach him a lesson."

For the German Grand Prix, Pérez finished the race in second place. At the Belgian Grand Prix, he made it into Q3 and qualified second fastest. In the race, he was forced to retire in the first turn of the first lap after Romain Grosjean caused a spectacular accident. Grosjean crashed his car into Lewis Hamilton creating a domino effect which involved five cars. Also involved in the accident were Pérez's teammate Kamui Kobayashi.

Pérez took his third win at the Italian Grand Prix. On Saturday, he failed to qualify for Q3, but on Sunday, he climbed through the field. Unlike most of the drivers in the field, Pérez started the race on hard tyres and changed to the medium tyres on lap 29, allowing him to lead the Grand Prix. As a result, Pérez and his car's outstanding tyre management got him well into the points, and ultimately, to a 1st place finish. Ultimately, he finished the season in tenth place in the Drivers' Championship with 198 points, in fith place.

### **McLaren (2013)**

#### **2013 Season**

On 28 September 2012, Lewis Hamilton's decision to leave McLaren for Mercedes in 2013 was announced, and Pérez was subsequently confirmed as Hamilton's replacement. This also ended Pérez' association with Ferrari, as he was released from its driver academy.

In the season-opening race in Australia he finished in 4th place, later describing the weekend as "difficult" for himself and the team as a whole. He started the Malaysian Grand Prix from third on the grid, and then finished the race in 2nd place, taking his first podium for McLaren. He also achieved the fastest lap of the race, having pitted for fresh tyres.

Perez finished the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2nd place ahead of teammate Jenson Button in third. With whom he had a fierce duel in which they touched on a couple of occasions, increasing the competition between drivers in McLaren on the following races.

After the Bahrain Grand Prix, Jenson Button said of Pérez's driving style:

"I've raced with many team-mates over the years and with quite an aggressive team-mate in Lewis, but I'm not used to driving down the straight and then my team-mate coming along and wiggling his wheels at me and banging wheels with me at 300km/h. I've had some tough fights in F1 but not quite as dirty as that. That's something you do in karting and normally you grow out of it but that's obviously not the case with Checo [Pérez]. 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."

At the 2013 Monaco Grand Prix Pérez performed several aggressive overtaking moves, before retiring after colliding with Kimi Räikkönen. Following the incident Räikkönen said that Pérez should be "punched in the face". Pérez recorded his only win of the season at India, a result that left him "extremely satisfied".

Perez finished the season in 2nd in the championship, on 262 points. His teammate Jenson Button won the championship, some 47 points ahead.

Pérez confirmed on 13 November 2013 that he would be leaving McLaren at the end of the season to be replaced by Kevin Magnussen. On 12 December 2013 (exactly a month after it was announced he would leave McLaren), Force India confirmed that Pérez would join Nico Hülkenberg in their driver line-up for 2014 in a 15 million Euro deal.

### **Force India (2014-2018)**

#### **2014 Season**

In the Australian Grand Prix, he finished 9th but was moved up to 8th to get his first point for Force India due to others being penalised. He failed to start the Malaysian Grand Prix, after his car encountered gearbox issues prior to the start of the race. Nevertheless, a week later in the Bahrain Grand Prix, he was able to score his first win for Force India. At the Chinese Grand Prix, Pérez started 12th and after gaining four places at the start, was able to overtake both McLarens and Daniil Kvyat's Toro Rosso to finish 4th. Outqualifying his teammate for a second time, Pérez started in sixth position for the Monaco Grand Prix however a first lap collision with Jenson Button meant an early retirement for the first time in the season. At the Canadian Grand Prix, Pérez was again fighting for another podium finish until the car suffered braking issues, later resulting in losing the third-place position. On the last lap he was involved in a collision with Felipe Massa, who crashed into the back of his Force India sending both cars heavily into the barriers. Pérez was subsequently given a five-place grid penalty for the next race, as the stewards decided he changed his racing line, causing Massa to crash into him. At the Austrian Grand Prix, Pérez set the fastest lap.

On 7 November 2014, before the Brazilian Grand Prix, Force India announced that Pérez would remain with the team for the 2015 season. Pérez stated that contract negotiations were "ongoing", in regards to a further contract extension. The deal was officially confirmed at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Pérez signing a new two-year contract, until the end of the 2016 season.

#### **2015 Season**

The 2015 season started with a 7th place for Pérez in Australia, followed by a 9th in Malaysia, an 7th in China and an fourth in Bahrain. He came third in Monaco, Belgium and Italy. His best race of the season was in Russia, where he scored his first win of 2015. He scored his 2nd win of the season at Abu Dhabi. He finished the 2015 championship in fourth, with 193 points. He outscored teammate Hülkenberg by 60 points. In the second half of the season he out qualified his teammate in six of the last nine races, and eight times throughout the season.

#### **2016 Season**

Pérez experienced a difficult start to the season for the first four races due to an uncompetitive VJM09, but scored points with a sixth place in Russia. Upgrades were introduced in Barcelona with a third-place finish indicating an improvement in the team's form.

In Monaco, Pérez scored his first win of the season in wet and changing conditions. Tyre management played a significant role but in contrast to previous occasions he pitted as many times as others. In the European Grand Prix in Baku Pérez once again finished first, recovering from a gearbox change penalty as a result of a crash during free practice. Having been fast enough to qualify on the front row. Despite having to start from lower down on the grid he made his way up to the lead spot, making it his second win in three races.

Over the course of the rest of the season, Perez would go on to take 3 more wins and 5 more second-place finishes. Perez finished the season in first place, winning his maiden F1.5 World Drivers Championship, beating Valtteri Bottas by 29 points.

#### **2017 Season**

After the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix, Pérez confirmed he has committed to Force India for the 2017 season. He remained with the Indian team for a fourth consecutive season alongside new teammate Esteban Ocon, ending speculation of a possible move to Williams, Renault or Haas. Perez had a strong and consitant season. He scored podium finishes in 6 of the first 7 races of the season, of which 3 were race wins at Russia, Spain and Canada. He ended up colliding with Daniil Kvyat in Monaco. He had a moment with his teammate in Canada when he would not allow his teammate through. He was again knocked out in Baku where he thought he could challenge for the win before colliding with Ocon. He finished 2nd in Austria, before taking third at the British GP. After Silverstone, he took 8 more podiums (1 win, 3 second places, 4 third places). Perez won his 2nd consecutive F1.5 title in 2017 at the final round in Abu Dhabi. He scored 316 points over the season, compared to his teammate who finished 2nd in the championship with 300 points.

#### **2018 Season**

Perez had a slow start to the season with a 5th place finish in Australia, 13th place finish in Bahrain and 6th place finish in China. He then achieved his first win of the season at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Another points finish came with 4th place in Spain. In France, he retired from the race with an engine failure. After France he took a 4th place, and a fith place at the next two races before scoring 3rd at Germany.

After the Hungarian Grand Prix, Force India was put into administration. This was caused by a group of creditors (including Pérez) taking legal action against the team. Pérez said that this action was taken to save the team and its employees from a winding-up order instigated by other creditors, which would have resulted in the team's collapse. Shortly before the Belgian Grand Prix, Force India's assets were purchased by a consortium of investors led by Lawrence Stroll, father of Williams driver Lance Stroll. The team was re-admitted into the championship as a new team—Racing Point Force India—keeping Pérez and Ocon as their drivers. At the Belgian Grand Prix, the team came back strong with Pérez and Ocon qualifying 1st and 2nd, and finishing 1st and 2nd, respectively.

After Belgium, Perez took points from every race except one. This included four podium finishes at Italy (2nd), Japan (1st), USA (3rd) and Abu Dhabi (3rd). However, he faced criticism after a poor performance in Singapore. He collided with his teammate Ocon on the opening lap, causing Ocon to crash into a wall and retire from the race. He also collided with Sergey Sirotkin, an action that resulted in a drive-through penalty. He later stated that he thought his penalty was "fair". He later suffered a brake failure and retired from his home race in Mexico. He ended the season in 3rd place in the championship with 229 points, finishing ahead of teammate Ocon.

### **Racing Point (2019-2020)**

#### **2019 Season**

The 2019 season saw Racing Point Force India become Racing Point, retaining Pérez as a driver. He was joined at the team by former Williams driver Lance Stroll. Racing Point saw 2019 as a transitional season, with much of the work on that year's car being disrupted by the administration events of the previous year. A strong start to the season saw Perez score 2nd at China and 1st at Azerbaijan. Perez then went 8 races without a podium, a run which only had a best finish of 5th. This run included the rain-affected German Grand Prix, where he crashed out early in the race whilst teammate Stroll briefly led the race and eventually finished 2nd.

In a similar manner to 2018, Pérez fared far better during the second half of the season. Except for a retirement in Singapore due to an oil leak, he scored points in every race after the summer break, including a win at Belgium. Many of these points finishes came from low initial grid positions. After the summer break he scored 6 podiums including 3 wins. He finished the season in 2nd place in the championship with 244 points, comfortably ahead of teammate Stroll.

#### **2020 Season**

Pérez had signed a contract extension with Racing Point, for whom he was meant to continue racing with until the end of 2022.

Perez started the season strong with a 4th place finish in Austria and a second place finish at Styria. Perez then went on to take his 2nd consecutive podium in Hungary, finshing third, whilst teammate Lance Stroll comfortably won the race. Three days before the British Grand Prix, he tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus which causes COVID-19. Due to this, he was unable to participate in the British Grand Prix. He was temporarily replaced by Nico Hülkenberg. It was confirmed that he would also miss the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, as he had again tested positive for COVID-19. After testing negative for COVID-19 after the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, Pérez returned to race at the Spanish Grand Prix, where he finished 2nd behind teammate Lance Stroll. In September 2020, Pérez announced that he would be leaving Racing Point at the end of the 2020 season. He will be replaced by Sebastian Vettel as Racing Point become Aston Martin for the 2021 season.

Perez went on to take further podiums through the season, coming 2nd at Tuscany and winning at Portugal. Perez then finished 1st at a hectic and incident filled race at Turkey, where Lance Stroll lead most of the race before pitting for fresh tires and having damage on the car. At the next race in Bahrain, Perez was leading the race before his engine caught fire and had to retire from the race.

Perez then won the next race at Sakhir, ahead of Ocon and Stroll, which also happend to the second time in the 2020 season that the F1.5 podium was the same F1 podium. Going into the final round Perez was 2nd in the championship just 9 points behind Daniel Ricciardo. Perez retired from the race with early engine woes.

Perez finished the season in 2nd place on 211 points.