Sergio Pérez (footballer, Born 1988)

Sergio Michel "Checo" Pérez Mendoza (; born 26 January 1990) is a Mexican racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula One from to . Pérez was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Red Bull, and won Grands Prix across 14 seasons.

Born and raised in Guadalajara, Pérez began competitive kart racing aged six. Graduating to junior formulae in 2004, Pérez won his first championship in the national class of the 2007 British Formula 3 International Series. He progressed to the GP2 Series in 2009, finishing runner-up to Pastor Maldonado the following season with Addax. A member of the Ferrari Driver Academy since 2010, Pérez signed for Sauber in to partner Kamui Kobayashi, making his Formula One debut at the , where both were disqualified for an illegal rear wing. Pérez found greater success for the team in , achieving his maiden podium finish in Malaysia, and repeating this feat in Canada and Italy. For the season, Pérez moved to McLaren, replacing Lewis Hamilton to partner Jenson Button. After a podium-less season for McLaren, Pérez signed with Force India in . He scored five podiums with the team before their re-branding to Racing Point mid-way through the season.

Pérez placed fourth in the championship with Racing Point in , taking his maiden win at the , having been in last-place at the end of the first lap. Replaced by Sebastian Vettel at the re-branded Aston Martin for , Pérez signed for Red Bull to partner Max Verstappen; he took his first victory for the team at the . Pérez took further wins in at the Monaco and Singapore Grands Prix, amongst his maiden pole position in Saudi Arabia, finishing the season third overall. Pérez finished runner-up to Verstappen in the 2023 World Drivers' Championship, after additional victories in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan. Following a winless campaign, Pérez and Red Bull mutually agreed to terminate his contract, having contributed to two World Constructors' Championships.

Pérez achieved race wins, pole positions, fastest laps and podiums in Formula One. He holds the Formula One records for the most starts before a race win (190) and the most races before a pole position (219).

Early and personal life

Sergio Michel Pérez Mendoza was born on 26 January 1990 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 Galindo, and they have four children. Pérez is 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 have been a lawyer.

Junior racing career

Karting

Pérez began his career in karting at the age of six in 1996. In his first year of competition he achieved four victories in the junior category 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 and five podium finishes and finished fourth in the championship.

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

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

In 2000, he raced in the Shifter 80cc Championship and also participated in three races in the Shifter 125cc category, which was part of the Telmex Challenge. The following year saw him become the youngest driver to compete in the 125cc Shifter Regional category. By now, his achievements were bringing him to the attention of scouts for Escuderia Telmex.

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

In 2003, he was leading both championships in the 125cc 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 being 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 won the race, again as the youngest driver.

Skip Barber

Pérez competed in the US-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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