“Checo” Peréz, the pilot who never quit

Playing hide and seek, street football, or simply riding a bike with friends is something any 6-year-old would do. What “Checo” Pérez does every weekend is travel with his father and brother across the Mexican Republic to go karting.

“After the race we had to go home, sometimes for 10 hours by car, I slept in the car and I had my uniform to go to school. It’s funny to remember Monday morning, my dad always had to take me straight to school.”

the first A defining moment in his career he lived at the age of 13. When Sergio Perez competed in the 125cc shifter of the Mexican “Checo” Cup, he got into trouble with Klaus Schinkel Jr., who was his direct challenger for the title.

Klaus’ father complained to the race directors and Sergio was banned from the Mexican Self-Life Sports Federation, ending his career in Mexico. His father, Antonio Pérez, recalls that on that day he was beaten by the president of the federation.

“If you ask me now, why isn’t my son crying? That day I ran out of tears. He cried with all he had to cry for life. They brought her out loaded. That was the end and the last sweat of ‘Checo’ Pérez in Mexico,” he recounted the day before from the media.

One non-return ticket

Businessman Carlos Slim Dumet saw the potential of “Checo”, and offered to help his father, Antonio Pérez, on the condition that he would no longer run in Mexico and not interfere at all with his career.

From that day on, Carlos Slim Dummett “Checo” Pérez signed as pilot for the Escudería Telmex and sent him to compete in the Skip Barber Formula Dodge Series.

His professional start as a driver wasn’t easy, after seeing his older brother competing in Formula 4 in the UK, he knew he had to travel to Europe to get the level needed to get into Formula 1.

The first obstacle to getting to Europe was financial support. His current sponsor, Carlos Slim, with Escudería Telmex, did not consider him still too young. In the early morning for Mexico, he called European teams on the phone looking for opportunities, which angered his parents, due to the high call accounts for all the teams.

In the end, he received an offer from each team, but there was a very attractive and very cheap offer. Günther, owner of the 4 Speed ​​Media team, was contacted. So his father bought him a plane ticket to Munich without returning.

At the gates of Formula 1

Once in Europe, the team leader provided him with a place to sleep in his restaurant so he could compete in Formula BMW. He reached the British Formula 3 race where he managed to win the championship.

In 2009 he made his GP2 debut with Team Arden and later with Team Barwa Addax, finishing second in 2010 and opening the doors to Formula 1.

The long-awaited moment of being an F1 driver for “Checo” Perez, signed by Sauber F1 Team, has arrived. for the 2011 season Also in the same year, he was able to enter the Ferrari Pilots Academy, the same academy they passed through Great drivers like Michael SchumacherSeven times world champion.

But it was not until the following season that “Checo” achieved his first podium in the top class in motorsport, at the Malaysian Grand Prix in which he finished. 2nd place at only 22 years old. The man from Guadalajara then managed to add two more podiums in his short F1 career, which sparked the interest of big teams such as Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes.

These achievements opened doors for the team McLaren in 2013To replace current champion Lewis Hamilton, but it wasn’t a good season for Sergio, so his departure from the team was announced for the following season.

From F1 to uncertainty

“Checo” came to Force India to continue the supreme journey, sponsored by Claro and supported by Slim Domitt. with the team I managed to get five more platformsbetween the 2014 and 2018 seasons.

Everything seems to be going well until A power that has lost economic solvency To make modifications to cars and pay for engines purchased from Mercedes. Added to the financial problems are the legal troubles that owner Vijay Mallya has faced in India.

The Mexican pilot had to sue the Force India team for a sum 4 million eurosAs part of a strategy to save the labor of 400 workers, the newspaper documented Finance. The team was forced into bankruptcy for the sake of a final sale, saving the team from bankruptcy.

Lawrence Stroll ended up taking over the F1 team that same year, paying off debts to creditors and supporting the factory’s 400 workers. Then Force India became Team Racing Point, And he brought Stroll with him NoAn evo pilot, daughter of Lance.

Up until this point, everything seemed to be going normally in Guadalajara, but in the 2020 season, Racing Point announced that the Mexican driver would not renew the contract for the following 2021 season, after the team signed four-time champions Sebastian Vettel and owner’s son Lance Stroll.

“Checo” faced an uncertain future by not having a safe place in any of the ten Formula 1 teams, as shown in the series. campaign to survive Netflix. Their only option was Red Bull, as they did not finish deciding on the renewal of their contract with their current driver Alex Albon, who did not deliver the expected results like his predecessor Pierre Gasly.

So far in the 2021 season, “Checo” Pérez has claimed another Azerbaijan Grand Prix victory and three more podiums. This is how Red Bull arrives this weekend at the Mexican Grand Prix with Max Verstappen’s advantage over Lewis Hamilton in the fight for the championship. If this is achieved, the Red Bull team will resume the victory they achieved in 2013.

The pass to get to this team was their first win in Formula 1 at the Sakhir Grand Prix. This was the key piece in Horner’s decision to decide whether the Mexican would join the team with Max Verstappen in the 2021 season.

Sergio’s father said his son never cried, and that he cried all he could when they closed the doors of motorsports in Mexico at the age of 13. But he was wrong. Checo claimed his first Formula 1 victory at the Sakhir Grand Prix of 2020 The pilot who did not quit He cried again when he reached glory.