Sergio Pérez

Sergio Michel "Checo" Pérez Mendoza (; born 26 January 1990), is a Mexican racing driver who races in Formula One for Red Bull Racing, having previously driven for Sauber, McLaren, Force India, and Racing Point. He won his first Formula One Grand Prix at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, breaking the record for the number of starts before a race win at 190. He also earned his first Formula One pole position at the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, breaking the record for the most races before a first pole position at 215. Pérez has a contract with Red Bull Racing until the end of the 2024 season.

Up until 2012, Pérez was a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy. He made his Formula One debut driving for Sauber during the 2011 season. He took his first Formula One podium at the 2012 Malaysian 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 the team did not score a single podium finish. Subsequently, the team decided to replace Pérez with Kevin Magnussen for the 2014 season.

Force India signed Pérez for the 2014 season with a €15 million contract. He remained with Force India when the team went into administration in 2018 and reformed as the Racing Point team for 2019. In 2019, Racing Point signed a three-year extension with Pérez. In September 2020, Racing Point announced that Pérez would be leaving the team at the end of the season as Sebastian Vettel, a four-time F1 world champion, had been signed to replace him. In December, Pérez signed with Red Bull Racing for the 2021 season. Pérez then won the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix with the team and secured the second Formula 1 Grand Prix win of his career. Pérez scored his maiden Formula One pole position at the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with his third career win coming at the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix. Pérez scored his fourth win at the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix.

Personal life

Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, 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 three children. Pérez is a Catholic.

Both Pérez brothers are association football fans, stating that they thought about leaving car racing to play professionally.Formula 1: How did Sergio Perez almost become a soccer player?
https://bolavip.com/en The brothers are friends of Mexican footballer Javier Hernández. In an interview in 2012 for the official Formula One website, Pérez revealed that if he had not been a driver he would have liked to be a lawyer.

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

Early career

Karting

Pérez began his career at the age of 6 years in karting in 1996. In his first year of competition he achieved four victories in the junior category at the end of the year and claimed the runner-up spot in the category. In 1997, he participated in the karting Youth Class, where he was the youngest driver in the category and earned a win, five podiums and finished fourth in the championship.

The following year, he returned to compete in the junior category, where he had eight wins; and at the end of the campaign, he became the youngest driver to become champion of the category. He also participated in several races in Shifter 125 cc and competed in Master Kadets, where he finished on the podium.

In 1999, he raced in the 80 cc Shifter category, where he took three wins and finished third in the championship. Pérez also became the youngest driver to win a competition in the category, after obtaining special permission from the Federation to participate in the 80 cc Shifter.

In 2000, he raced in the Shifter 80 cc Championship, and also participated in three races in the Shifter 125 cc category which was part of the Telmex Challenge. However, Pérez was not satisfied with the results and the following season, was up for another championship, this time on the 125cc Shifter Regional, and once again was the youngest driver to compete in the category. With all these achievements, the Mexican driver caught the attention of scouts for Escuderia Telmex.

With six wins in 2002, Pérez finished as the national runner-up in the Shifter 125 cc category, and participated in the global race Shifter 80 cc, in Las Vegas, where he qualified fifth and finished in 11th place.

In 2003, he was leading both championships in the 125 cc category but withdrew from the last seven races, which proved to be a disappointment in his title aspirations. However, he finished in third place in Telmex Challenge, in addition to winning the Cup runner-up in Mexico. In the same year, he was also invited to attend the Easy Kart 125 Shootout, where he competed against drivers from around the world and managed to qualify in first place to eventually take the checkered flag, while he was the youngest in the category.

Skip Barber

Pérez competed in the United States-based Skip Barber National Championship in 2004. Driving for a team sponsored by Mexican telecommunications company Telmex, he finished eleventh in the championship.

Formula BMW

Pérez moved to Europe in 2005 to compete in the German Formula BMW ADAC series. He was allowed to live in a restaurant owned by his team manager for four months. He finished fourteenth in the championship, driving for 4speed Media, and improved to sixth position the following year.

A1 Grand Prix

In the 2006–07 A1 Grand Prix season, Pérez took part in a single round of the championship for A1 Team Mexico

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