Sergio Perez qualifies seventh in the Turkish GP

Sergio Perez continues not to get the best out of his RB16B in qualifying as he was far from the leaders in qualifying for the Turkish Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver qualified seventh, however, he will start from the sixth starting position due to Lewis Hamilton's penalty. The track conditions at the start of qualifying were complicated due to the rain that occurred hours earlier. Several drivers went off the track without major repercussions. On the other hand, Sergio Perez, like the rest of the drivers, mounted the soft tire and started to set his fastest laps.

As time went on, conditions improved, as the rain forecast by the teams did not arrive. Sergio's times improved and he finally advanced in fifth place to Q2 with a time of 1.24.963 with new soft rubber. Sergio Perez had a big scare at the start of Q2, as before his first fast lap he spun in turn 1; the Mexican driver was inches away from hitting the wall. Perez managed to turn the page quickly and continued to place in the first 10 places of the qualifying. The Mexican managed to get into Q3 in the sixth position by stopping the chronometer in 1.23.951 with the medium rubber.

For Q3 Sergio Perez went back to the red tire, a compound in which the Mexican driver didn't feel comfortable; warming up these tires took time. Finally, Sergio was unable to qualify in the top 5 as he finished seventh with a time of 1.23.706 which he managed to put in the last part of the session. Qualifying is still a pending account for Perez in his stay at Red Bull.

Sergio Perez, in pursuit of the Rodriguez brothers

During the 2020 season, Sergio Perez won the Sakhir Grand Prix and broke 50 years with no Mexican in the first place on a Formula 1 podium. The last one to achieve this was Pedro Rodriguez in 1970, during the Belgian Grand Prix.

In the sixties and seventies, the list of winners was more even. In the 1970 season, Mexico's Pedro Rodriguez was one of seven drivers to win a Grand Prix and the top winner was Germany's Jochen Rindt with five wins. The other first-place Pedro won was in 1968, and six pilots won, being the British Jim Clark the most wins with four. These numbers contrast with the 2020 season, in which Lewis Hamilton won 11 of 17 awards and in which there were only five different winners.

The income between Pedro Rodriguez and Sergio Perez is different. The former was driven by the fortune of his father, businessman Pedro Rodriguez Quijada, and even with resources from Pemex, while Perez has been injected with resources from Carlos Slim and other private sector sponsors.

Pedro Rodríguez was part of the Ferrari team in the 1969 season, although he only raced five of the 13 awards. In the 1960s, Ferrari won two world championships for drivers. For its part, Red Bull has won four championships from 2010 to 2020 with driver Sebastian Vettel and is the last team to win before the seven consecutive Mercedes championships with Lewis Hamilton.

Checo Perez and his beginnings in motorsports

Sergio "Checo" Perez is today the most famous Mexican Formula 1 driver in Mexico, however, he did not start yesterday he has dedicated practically his whole life to motorsport since he was six years old when he started in this world of high speed. The Mexican Formula 1 driver has already accumulated 25 years of career.

Checo is used to podiums, having achieved four since his first year as a driver. At the age of six, in 1996, he began his career in karting, where he won four races and was runner-up. It was in 1998 that Sergio Pérez tasted absolute victory in a championship for the first time. He was proclaimed champion of the youth category in karting, and thus the youngest driver to do so. When Sergio Perez was nine years old, he managed to get special permission to participate in the Shifter 80 cc series, where drivers between 14 and 18 years of age race. In that category, Checo achieved three victories and at the end of the championship, he was third.

At the age of 12, in 2002, Checo Perez achieved six podiums in the 125cc Shifter category, where riders 18 years old and older compete. In that tournament, he was crowned as runner-up in the category, and that same year he competed in the 80cc Shifter World Championships where he qualified fifth and finished in 11th place. Checo's career has always had the characteristic of being one of the youngest in all categories. In 2004, when he was only 14 years old, he decided to turn professional and got into a car to race in the American Skip Barber National Championship series.

At the age of 15, Sergio Perez went to Europe to race in the German Formula BMW ADAC series. His biography tells that besides not knowing the language, he had no place to live and spent several months sleeping in a restaurant owned by the leader of the 4 Speed Media team. In 2007, a year before he came of age, Sergio Perez became British Formula 3 champion. His biography tells that he won the National Class championship where he set the points record and also became the youngest driver to win a British Formula 3 championship at the age of 17. He closed that season with 14 victories, 19 podiums, 12 pole positions, and 12 fastest laps.

It was in 2009 when Sergio Perez joined the GP2 series in the Arden team. In his first year, he placed 12th. It wasn't until the following year when he got a place in the Barwa Addax team that he began to achieve podiums and points to such a degree that he was a candidate to become champion. During this season he achieved one of the most important achievements in motorsports for a Mexican, the victory in the street circuit of Monaco. In 2011, at 19 years of age, Sergio Perez jumps to the tracks of the Maximum Circuit with the Sauber team.

In Australia 2011, Checo passed the checkered flag in the seventh position in his first race. He was the only driver in the race to make less than two stops. However, both Sauber cars were disqualified after the race for violating technical regulations. In the 2011 Spanish Grand Prix, Perez scored his first points after completing ninth, ahead of teammate Kamui Kobayashi who came in tenth. In 2011 Sergio scored valuable points at Silverstone, Singapore, Suzuka, and India. He finished the season in 16th place with 14 points finishing as one of the best rookies of the season.

First podium in F1

In 2012 Checo Perez managed to get on the F1 podium for the first time. It was at the Malaysian Grand Prix, the second of the season. The competition at the front was with the Spaniard Fernando Alonso on a rainy day. Second place was the best result for Sauber as a team. In 2013 Checo switched teams to McLaren and it was in that season when he came to take Lewis Hamilton's place. It was not a good season for the team as the car was not ready to fight for podiums.

The highest position he achieved was fifth place in the Indian Grand Prix. That same year Checo confirmed that he would not continue with the team.  Sergio Pérez became the new driver for Force India in 2014. He did not have very good luck at the beginning of the campaign, but it was not until the Bahrain Grand Prix that he got back on the podium in third place.

In Austria, Checo finishes sixth and gets the third fastest lap of his career, while giving Force India the third fastest lap in its history. He finished seventh in Italy, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi, and eighth in Belgium. At 24 years of age, Checo managed to finish in the top 10 of the drivers' championship and is confirmed in the team for one more year.

In 2016 Checo added another podium at the Monaco Grand Prix by finishing third. That same year Perez also placed third at the Baku Grand Prix and it was his seventh Formula 1 podium. For 2017 he failed to score any podium finishes when he remained with Force India. But in 2018 Checo managed to add the eighth podium of his career, also with Force India at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, once again in third.

Checo Perez had to live in 2019 the rescue by the businessman Lance Stroll of Force India because this team would have gone bankrupt. Thus Racing Point F1 Team was born. That season Checo Pérez did not achieve a single podium and his best positions were two sixth places in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and the Belgian Grand Prix. In the Mexican Grand Prix, he managed to sneak into seventh place.

In 2020, Sergio Perez made history because in Bahrain, at the Sakhir Grand Prix, he achieved an unforgettable race by taking first place despite being beaten by Charles Leclerc at the start. Such a result had not been achieved since 1970 when Pedro Rodriguez celebrated the first position at Spa-Francorchamps. At the end of that season, Checo was left without a seat, however, that triumph practically secured his place in the Red Bull team for the 2021 season.

Once Checo Peréz's arrival at Red Bull as Max Verstappen's teammate was confirmed, the job was not going to be easy. In the first part of the season, Checo had a hard time adapting to the car and the team, however, he came through with flying colors. At 31 years of age, the Mexican driver has achieved four podiums this season. A first place in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and three third places in France, Turkey, and the United States.

Sources: Checoperez.com and formula1.com.