Sergio "Checo" Pérez is a Mexican racing driver and one of Formula 1's most experienced campaigners. Born Sergio Michel Pérez Mendoza on 26 January 1990 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, he returns to the grid in 2026 as a driver for the new Cadillac Formula 1 Team, partnering Valtteri Bottas in the squad's debut season. ¹²

When Cadillac confirmed its all-Grand-Prix-winner line-up in August 2025, Pérez was candid that he had simply fallen back in love with the sport. "I love the sport and I want to go back to enjoy it," he said, adding that he wanted to "give back a lot of love to the sport that has given me everything." After a bruising final Red Bull year and eight months out of a race seat, he felt fresher and convinced he still had plenty to give. ³

“Cadillac entered 2026 as a back-of-grid team, and through the opening rounds neither car had escaped Q1.”

Early life and karting

Pérez began karting at the age of six and was Mexican national runner-up in the shifter category before his teens. Backed by the Carlos Slim-owned Escudería Telmex programme, he moved to Europe in 2005 to race Formula BMW in Germany, the start of a single-seater apprenticeship far from home. ¹

Junior formulae

In 2007 Pérez won the British Formula 3 National Class title with T-Sport, dominating the category, then stepped up to the international class and finished fourth in 2008. He graduated to GP2, taking race wins in the GP2 Asia Series before a standout 2010 campaign with Barwa Addax in which he finished runner-up to Pastor Maldonado, winning five races. That form, and his Telmex backing, earned him an F1 seat. ¹

Sauber and McLaren

Pérez made his Formula 1 debut with Sauber at the 2011 Australian Grand Prix. As a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, he announced himself in 2012 with three podiums — second in Malaysia, where he closed on race-winner Fernando Alonso in the wet and finished barely two seconds adrift, plus third in Canada and second at Monza. That promise earned a move to McLaren for 2013 alongside Jenson Button, but in an uncompetitive car he managed only a best of fifth and was released after a single difficult season. ¹

Force India and Racing Point

Pérez rebuilt his career at Force India from 2014, scoring the team's first podium in years with third in Bahrain and becoming a points-scoring fixture — third in Russia in 2015, in Monaco and at Baku in 2016, and again at Baku in 2018, where he became the first driver to podium twice at the Azerbaijan circuit. When Force India collapsed into administration in 2018, a Lawrence Stroll-led consortium rescued the team, which became Racing Point. The payoff came at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix: spun to last on the opening lap, Pérez fought back to take a sensational maiden victory — at his 190th start, a record for the most races before a first win, and the first Mexican Grand Prix win since Pedro Rodríguez half a century earlier. ¹⁴⁵

Red Bull years

For 2021 Red Bull Racing dropped Alex Albon and signed Pérez as Max Verstappen's team-mate. He won in Azerbaijan in 2021 and played a decisive supporting role in the title-deciding Abu Dhabi finale, holding up Lewis Hamilton long enough for Verstappen to close the gap — earning the nickname "a legend" from his team-mate. He was a key part of Red Bull's Constructors' Championships in 2022 and 2023, winning at Monaco and Singapore in 2022, and enjoyed his best season in 2023, finishing runner-up in the standings with wins in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan. His 2024 campaign collapsed, though: winless and far adrift of Verstappen, he parted ways with the team at season's end, with Liam Lawson installed as his replacement. ¹⁶⁷

Sabbatical and Cadillac return

Pérez sat out the 2025 season. He has argued that the Red Bull car was developed around Verstappen's unique style, pointing to the struggles of his replacements as vindication: "Now you realise the job I've done in that car and that team." The chance to put his experience into a brand-new project drew him back. He and Bottas, both veterans, signed multi-year deals, bringing 527 combined Grand Prix starts and 16 wins to the new outfit. "It's an honour to be part of building a team that can develop together so that, in time, we will fight at the very front," Pérez said. ³²

2026 season and current form

Cadillac entered 2026 as a back-of-grid team, and through the opening rounds neither car had escaped Q1. But Pérez has impressed in race trim, closing the qualifying gap from over three seconds in Australia to around 1.5s by Monaco. There he charged into the points on the road, only for a 10-second penalty for lining up in the wrong grid box at a restart to drop him from P10 to last, denying Cadillac its first point. Team Principal Graeme Lowdon still praised that he "drove fantastically well." Pérez leads team-mate Bottas in the intra-team head-to-head as the team chases its breakthrough score. ⁸

Driving style and character

Pérez is rated among the best tyre managers in Formula 1, a canny strategist and a stubborn defender whose racecraft has often flattered modest machinery. Known universally as "Checo," he carries an enormous following in Mexico, where he became the first home driver to podium at the Mexico City Grand Prix and turned the event into a national celebration. Through the end of his last full season his record stood at six wins, 39 podiums, three poles and 12 fastest laps. ¹⁹

Bottom line

Pérez is a race-hardened veteran whose tyre management, racecraft and championship-winning team experience make him exactly the kind of steadying influence a brand-new constructor needs. At Cadillac he swaps the pressure of a title-chasing second seat for the role of senior driver helping to build a team from scratch. ²³