EXCLUSIVE: Sergio Perez reflects on his F1 career in photos – as he reaches 300 Grand Prix starts

Sergio Perez will mark a major milestone in his career at the upcoming Mexico City Grand Prix when he starts an F1 race for the 300th time – climbing above Sebastian Vettel and into seventh position on the sport’s all-time entry list.

Ahead of the event, where he will once again put on a show for the home crowd, Perez joined F1.com to relive his journey so far, covering the highs, lows and everything in between across stints with Sauber, McLaren, Force India/Racing Point, Red Bull and Cadillac.

Making an impression with Sauber

Perez’s F1 adventure began some 15 years ago when he secured promotion with Sauber for 2011, off the back of race wins in junior single-seater categories British F3 and GP2 (and the runner-up spot in the latter’s 2010 season between Pastor Maldonado and Jules Bianchi).

It did not take him long to catch the paddock’s attention – the then 21-year-old finishing a high-flying seventh on debut at the Australian Grand Prix with an alternate one-stop strategy, only to lose that result when both Sauber cars were disqualified for rear wing breaches.

After racking up several points finishes as a rookie, and recovering from a heavy crash during only his sixth Grand Prix weekend in Monaco, Perez and Sauber stepped it up a gear in 2012 to emerge as plucky midfield runners who could occasionally mix it with the very best names in the sport.

The first of those situations came at the second round in Malaysia, where Perez well and truly announced himself to the F1 world during a wet/dry encounter by exploiting the tricky, changeable weather conditions and going wheel-to-wheel with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso for victory.

“Oh my God! It’s a lot,” smiles Perez, as he studies the 20 photographs laid out in front of him, and thinks about the 300th Grand Prix celebrations that are approaching. “I came up to F1 with nothing, and now I’m a dad of four kids, [with a] family…

“I mean, this [first] picture, [there are] lots of memories. It’s the start of the journey. Not even in my best dreams could I have imagined having such a successful career. It’s been amazing having this ride, and I’ve been very privileged.”

Moving over to the second photo, when he went up against Alonso at Sepang, Perez continues: “I found myself fighting with him throughout the race, and with a good chance of winning. Unfortunately, I went off [the track] just a couple of laps before [the end] and finished second. But it was a very, very nice race, and a special podium for Sauber.

“You can see what was happening in my second year [with the momentum building]. I was probably the most wanted junior driver on the grid [at the end of 2012]. I had big opportunities with top teams, and I could have chosen where to go.”

Dream McLaren move turns into a struggle

As touched on above, Perez was a man in demand thanks to his performances through 2012, which also included a P3 finish in Canada and another P2 result in Italy – his knack for extending tyre life and making different strategies work coming to the fore.

Prior to his F1 debut with Sauber, Perez had joined the Ferrari Driver Academy, prompting plenty of speculation that he would be heading to the Scuderia in 2013 in place of the struggling Felipe Massa, and alongside the aforementioned Alonso.

That was until Lewis Hamilton settled on a bombshell move from McLaren to Mercedes, sending shockwaves through the driver market, and opening another door…

“I was a Ferrari junior at the time, so the obvious choice would have been Ferrari, but then McLaren came [calling], and it was a massive opportunity,” says Perez, who joined forces with Jenson Button and had hopes of fighting for race wins and world titles.

Those ambitions were short-lived, though, as McLaren’s underperforming car (which did not score a pole position, victory or podium) and Perez’s relative inexperience combined to turn his dream move into a struggle – nothing appearing to click for the youngster in his new surroundings.

“When I went there, it wasn’t a good year,” he sighs, taking himself back to that chapter, which yielded a best Grand Prix finish of fifth. “It was very hectic. It was a very tough season, and a poor season for me. I didn’t [even] manage to make it to the podium.

“That put my career in danger, because McLaren decided not to renew me towards the end of the year, and [at that point] there were no options [elsewhere]. It was only my third year in F1, and I went from being the hottest driver on the grid to not having a seat, so it was a really, really difficult time.”

Bouncing back at Force India

Thankfully for Perez, Vijay Mallya’s Force India operation offered him a career lifeline ahead of the 2014 season, when new turbo-hybrid power units came into play and the Silverstone-based team – aided by Mercedes’ class-leading engine – took a noticeable step forward.

“I came to Force India, a very small team, and in my third race I was on the podium!” Perez beams, looking at the image of his Bahrain Grand Prix result, when he followed home battling Mercedes drivers Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, and narrowly kept Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo at bay. “It was an amazing journey with Vijay – starting that with him.”

Perez developed into a points-scoring machine with Force India as their relationship grew over the following seasons, adding further podiums in Russia in 2015, Monaco and Azerbaijan in 2016, and Azerbaijan once more in 2018, while also being on the grid for the return of his home country’s Grand Prix.

When he made his F1 debut, Perez became only the fifth Mexican driver to compete in the sport, and the first since Héctor Rebaque in 1981. That took on even greater significance in 2015 thanks to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez – named after Mexico’s racing brothers – ending a 23-year absence from the calendar.

“Having my first race at home was a dream come true – the first Mexican race with a Mexican driver [in recent times],” Perez comments, focusing on a shot of him waving to thousands of passionate fans in the grandstands.

“When you start in F1, you never realise how important [it is] and how much it means to your country, so when I went to Mexico [for the Grand Prix], I realised, ‘Wow, this means a lot. Me being in F1 gives a lot of motivation to my country, and there’s something for them to wake up for’.”

For all those positive memories, Perez’s time as a Force India driver ended in difficult circumstances – the squad experiencing major financial troubles as the 2018 season progressed, and Perez himself taking legal action against them to help protect around 400 jobs.

A consortium led by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll subsequently bought out Force India, which was rebranded as Racing Point Force India and then Racing Point outright, before eventually transitioning to a revived Aston Martin works team from the start of the 2021 season.

“That was a very tough period as well,” says Perez. “I’m just a racing driver, and I found myself in a situation where I could potentially save the team, save a lot of jobs, with the people that I’d been with for so many years – a lot of friends, and they all have families.

“I had to take very hard decisions there, and it was a very difficult time. I remember before Qualifying, and before the race [at some Grand Prix weekends], I was having meetings with the engineers, and I was [also] having meetings with lawyers and stuff.”

Finally reaching the top step of the podium

Little did he know it at the time, but those actions were the start of paving a new path towards Perez’s breakthrough maiden F1 victory – one that came in the closing stages of a delayed and revised 2020 season amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

After missing two races with the virus earlier in the campaign, Perez strung together an impressive sequence of mid-season points-scoring finishes, and had just bagged his best result of second at a rain-hit Turkish Grand Prix, when the paddock arrived in Bahrain for a double-header at the same Sakhir venue.

The first race (on the traditional Grand Prix track layout) ended in disappointment with an engine-related retirement, and the second race (on the shorter, faster ‘Outer Circuit’) started in dramatic style with a three-car collision on the opening lap…

“It should be the other way around!” Perez laughs, pointing out that the victory shot in F1.com’s makeshift gallery had been placed ahead of his Lap 1 incident. “I will change the slot – this is how it started, and this is how it ended!

“Charles [Leclerc] crashed into me, then Max [Verstappen] tried to avoid us and went into the wall, but it worked out perfectly [after that].”

Despite falling to the back of the field after the crash, Perez soon made up ground, pulling off a series of smart overtakes to return to the points-paying positions by Lap 20 of 87, before he and Racing Point nailed their strategy around Virtual Safety Car and Safety Car periods, and later took advantage of pit stop and puncture dramas for front-running Mercedes pair Valtteri Bottas and George Russell (the latter replacing an unwell Hamilton for his Mercedes debut).

“Bahrain is the track with the most [tyre] degradation of the season,” says Perez. “It’s the roughest tarmac. But I learned about [the Outer Circuit], that it was a very different Bahrain, that the degradation was very low, and that there were a lot of straights. So, I took all the downforce out of the car, I went for a smaller rear wing, and that turned out to be the right decision. We were flying that weekend.”

Having gone from last to first, Perez expertly controlled the final few laps to take the chequered flag ahead of Renault’s Esteban Ocon and team mate Lance Stroll, and become the first Mexican driver to win an F1 race since Pedro Rodríguez at the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix.

Not only had he made history, but it was also a timely statement to rival F1 team bosses, fresh from announcing that he would not be representing Racing Point in 2021 – the team having signed four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel to partner Stroll under their Aston Martin rebrand.

“[The victory] meant a lot to me, because at the time, I didn’t have a seat for the next year,” he says – with his options at the time limited. “Basically, it was Red Bull or nothing. I would have waited a year and then come back to the sport. It meant that whatever happened, I already had a win in my pocket. I’d done [almost] 10 years in F1, so whatever came [next], great.

“Then the opportunity with Red Bull [arrived], and it was a massive one. All my career, [after] all that I’d been through, the opportunity with Red Bull came…”

Another chance with a big-name team

Perez’s move to Red Bull was significant on several levels. Now 30 years old, it represented a rare second chance to show what he could do in a top-level team. For Red Bull, meanwhile, it marked a departure from their pool of junior talent after struggles for Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon alongside Verstappen.

Although Verstappen remained Red Bull’s clear benchmark through 2021, when the Dutchman engaged in a titanic title battle with Mercedes’ Hamilton, Perez proved his worth in the second seat, taking a second career victory on the streets of Azerbaijan and four more podiums.

It was the role he played at the Abu Dhabi finale that stands out, though, when Perez – on a different strategy – made his Red Bull as wide as possible to keep Hamilton at bay for a lap-and-a-half, and allow Verstappen to close significantly before the late-race Safety Car drama.

“I think without Checo, I wouldn’t be sitting here [as World Champion] right now, because then they [Mercedes] would have had a pit gap with the Safety Car,” said Verstappen, who stopped under the Safety Car for fresh soft tyres while Hamilton stayed out on worn hards, and then pounced on the last lap to claim the title.

Picking up the story, Perez says: “It was a great chapter in my career, sharing a garage with Red Bull, and with Max. At Red Bull, with Helmut [Marko, then Advisor], with Christian [Horner, then Team Principal], I think it’s the biggest challenge that you can have as a driver. I learned a lot. I also had a lot of fun; we had a fantastic time, and we were the best team.

“I found myself in a position in the last race where I could help Max and the team. Obviously, I was part of the team, I would do anything for my team, and it worked out. I managed to help Max, and Max won the championship. I was pleased for him, but more importantly, for Red Bull, to be able to support my team.”

Glancing and pointing at another highlight from that Red Bull stint, when he claimed his second Mexico City rostrum finish in 2022, Perez adds: “There are so many great memories, like this one, making it to the podium at home, [with] my son at a great age. For me it was super, super special to be able to have that, and to share it with my kids.”

Perez enjoyed further success with Red Bull through 2022 and 2023, adding three pole positions and four more race wins, while rising to third and then second in the Drivers’ Championship standings, and contributing to successive Teams’ Championship titles.

However, after a solid start to the 2024 season, Perez’s form dipped from the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, where he got eliminated in Q1 and crashed out heavily on the first lap – having just been given a contract extension by Red Bull chiefs.

“After I finished second in the championship, Monaco was the start of a very difficult period with Red Bull,” he says. “This weekend was when I renewed my contract – I extended it for two more years. It was just like the start of the downfall…

“There were things going on with the car that I started to struggle quite a lot with, [like] the [corner] entry instability. We kept pushing in that direction, so for me it was a really, really difficult period. There was a lot of pressure, a lot of talk, and a lot of negativity around it.

“Although I had a contract, we decided at the end of the year that it was best to split, and that meant I had to take a year out and potentially never come back. After this period, I had a fantastic time taking that year out. I was just having fun, and everything was paid for as well!”

An all-new chapter at Cadillac

A few months into that break, Perez revealed to F1.com that he had been approached by “a few teams” since leaving Red Bull, and that there were some “interesting projects” to consider. By the summer, he had secured his return with 2026 newcomers Cadillac.

The American squad, backed by automotive giants General Motors, faced a huge challenge to be ready for the season opener in Australia, with final entry approval only granted in March 2025, but they ultimately met their tight deadlines and took to the grid with Perez and fellow experienced racer Bottas.

“The opportunity with Cadillac was there, but I didn’t know how serious the project was, and I didn’t want to come back to F1 just for the sake of being here,” Perez admits, recalling his talks with the all-new operation. “For me, it was more about finding the right project, and a project that motivates me to give everything I have in F1.

“Once I learned who was behind it, with Dan [Towriss, team CEO], with General Motors, I knew that Cadillac is the place where I want to finish my career, where I want to do my final stint – and to make sure that I bring Cadillac to the top. That’s my challenge, and the challenge that I’m enjoying a lot.”

While Cadillac have understandably spent most of their debut season running towards the back of the pack and working through some teething issues, Perez has already knocked on the door of F1’s midfield at several events, and came agonisingly close to scoring the outfit’s first point in Monaco.

And, in Mexico City this weekend, another positive moment will come in the form of Perez’s 300th Grand Prix start, which just so happens to fall at his home event after the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia slotted into the calendar and delayed the milestone moment.

“Crazy!” Perez says of the number, and where it is being achieved. “I remember when I came into F1, the year before, Rubens Barrichello celebrated his 300th race. I looked at him with his kids, and I said, ‘Wow, it’s Barrichello, he’s had a fantastic career’. I could only have dreamed of having a similar career and enjoying it with my kids. Now, I will be able to share my 300th race with them.

“I’m extremely thankful to everyone that has been part of this journey. My team bosses, team mates, all the teams that gave me opportunities, my country, my sponsors that always believed in me, and obviously all the fans that have been giving me their love.”