Nationality: Mexican
Birthday: 26 January 1990
Current team: Cadillac
Previous teams: Sauber, McLaren, Force India/Racing Point, Red Bull
Number: 11
Strengths: Race pace, tyre management, defensive driving, street circuits
Weaknesses: Qualifying pace, consistency, accident-prone in wheel-to-wheel racing
Strongest tracks: Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore
Weakest tracks: Abu Dhabi, Britain, Austria, Australia
Statistics
Grand Prix wins: 6
Pole Positions: 3
Fastest laps: 12
Podiums: 39
World Championships: 0
F1 teammate record H2H
Total Q record: 115-165
Total R record: 112-164
| Teammate | Q record | R record |
| Bottas (2026) | 2-1 | 2-1 |
| Verstappen (2021-24) | 8-81 | 11-79 |
| Stroll (2019-20) | 27-7 | 25-9 |
| Ocon (2017-18) | 23-17 | 22-18 |
| Hülkenberg (2014-16) | 24-35 | 31-25 |
| Button (2013) | 10-9 | 6-13 |
| Kobayashi (2011-12) | 21-15 | 16-19 |
Pre-F1 championship results
2nd in GP2 (2010)
12th in GP2 (2009)
4th in British Formula 3 (2008)
Won in British Formula 3 (National) (2007)
Career analysis
Before entering F1, Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez had decent but not incredible results in the junior series. It seemed like he would be just another pay driver.
But the Mexican turned out to be a really good racer. He was almost instantly up to speed and performed admirably next to Kamui Kobayashi at Sauber. Pérez had a few races in 2012 where he exceeded all expectations, and this scored him a promotion to McLaren, despite the fact that he was in the Ferrari Driver Academy at the time.
At McLaren, the car was much slower than expected. For the first time in years, Woking had produced a car incapable of competing for wins. In terms of pure pace, he was about even with Jenson Button, but Pérez rarely maximised his race results that year. McLaren believed – based on sim data – that Kevin Magnussen was a better prospect, so Pérez was fired after just a single season. In hindsight, that was probably a mistake.
Pérez had a solid revival at Force India where he almost matched Nico Hülkenberg’s pace. In races, the Mexican often had more upside and scored some podiums when circumstances were in his favour. During this era where tyre management was key, Pérez performed particularly well.
In the following years, he was joined by a young Esteban Ocon. This proved to be a fierce teammate rivalry where the two frequently had run-ins with each other. Generally speaking, Pérez had the upper hand, but the matchup was close.
When Lawrence Stroll took over Force India, and turned it into Racing Point, Pérez was the driver who stayed. He easily beat Stroll (who wouldn’t?) but was set to be replaced by Sebastian Vettel and was initially without a seat for 2021.
But as it happened, Pérez had an incredible final race in 2020 and this secured him a seat at Red Bull the following year. The Red Bull era proved very up and down for Pérez. He had occasional highlights, mainly on street circuits, and he was instrumental in helping Max Verstappen towards the end of 2021. But he was also inconsistent and had a mid-season slump every single year.
Checo was given a long leash at Red Bull – too long if you ask many fans – as he struggled with the car in his final season and completely failed to challenge Verstappen in 2023 when the car was dominant. Due to very underwhelming results in 2024, Pérez was left without a seat for 2025. It later turned out that no driver other than Verstappen could handle the oversteery Red Bull, and that Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda performed significantly worse than Pérez.
After a year out of F1, Checo has now returned to the grid for Cadillac. Expectations are low due to the team being brand new, but Pérez could prove important in building up Cadillac in its early years. At 36 years old, the Mexican is probably not at the same level as he was in his peak, but he should be able to beat Bottas in races.
His skill-set is well-suited for lower ranked teams. Pérez is good with strategy and can make tyres last long. In wheel-to-wheel racing, he is decent, and he can hold on to positions for much longer than expected. His feisty defensive driving sometimes results in accidents, though.
There are certain tracks where he is always great, mainly on twisty street circuits. A recurrent problem throughout his career has been a drop in level during the middle of the year, possibly because he struggles at the classic European race circuits. Pérez definitely needs to improve his consistency. If he feels comfortable in his role at Cadillac, he might surprise fans occasionally. But time is working against him, and Pérez only has a few years left before he starts to decline further.
