In a vibrant metropolis with more than 20 million inhabitants, a face and a smile stands out on posters and on television this week in Mexico City: Formula 1 driver Sergio Perez.
Mexico’s most popular racing son is back, this time with a chance to win his home race at the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday as his Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen and Mercedes-Lewis Hamilton battle it out for the season championship.
Formula 1 has not raced in Mexico City since 2019. In the past few years, thunderous chants of “Checo! Checo!” streamed out of the huge grandstands of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, even as Perez was fighting for a top 10 position.
He returns this week with a car capable of a podium and perhaps even a win that could delight those cheers.
“A podium would be great, it’s the least the country deserves,” said Perez. “We are now at Red Bull and the support is even greater this time.”
One of only six Mexican drivers in F1 history, Perez has always been revered by racing fans in his home country, even when racing in teams and cars that weren’t quite up front. His best result here is seventh place, which he achieved twice.
Early in his career, his popularity and potential made him a key figure helping race organizers bring the world’s greatest motorsport series back to Mexico in 2015 after 23 years.
Perez helped attract investors and joined efforts to gain political support for the race, said Tavo Hellmund, the former American driver and promoter who helped develop the race. In 2015, then President Enrique Pena visited Nieto Perez in his garage.
“Checo was heavily involved in public relations,” said Hellmund. “(Politics) was pretty difficult to navigate. Checo was huge in it. “
He is still the focus of public relations around the race weekend. While Verstappen and Hamilton battle their way through the best Formula 1 duel in years, it’s Perez who is best known in advertising across town and on the airwaves.
The story goes on
In the souvenir zone along the track, there are usually sales tents with specialty Perez merchandise, usually not far from those dedicated to Ayrton Senna, the Brazilian racing legend who was killed in 1994.
Perez pays back the goodwill of local fans when he can. When Mexico City was hit by an earthquake in 2017 that killed more than 200 people a month before the race, Perez donated more than $ 165,000 to relief efforts and came to the city to raise more.
“I have so much to thank the fans for,” said Perez. “It would be a dream for me to win the race.”
As a product of the Ferrari Driver Academy, it received early financial support from Carlos Slim of Mexico, one of the richest men in the world. He was 15 when he left his native Guadalajara for Europe to join the junior circuits that will flow into F1.
His career was hot in 2012 when he took his first three podium places with Sauber. But the next few years with McLaren, Sahara Force India and Racing Point only brought a handful of podiums. By 2020 he threatened to lose his seat.
He achieved his first career win at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain. It was the perfect drive at the perfect time and it paved the way for Red Bull.
Red Bull finally has Perez in a car that can fight for the podium. And while he’s still number 2 at Verstappen, he’s enjoying the best season of his career. Perez won in Azerbaijan and has three other podiums including the last two races in Turkey and the US.
He threatened pole position at the US Grand Prix until a shaky final lap was dwarfed by Verstappen and Hamilton. The Austin crowd was full of fans from Mexico cheering him on each round in a preview of what’s to come this weekend.
Red Bull is considered the favorite to win in the high altitude of Mexico City and is providing a new level of pressure.
“You want to see a motivated Checo in a car that could win? Holy cow, Batman! ”Said Hellmund.
The circuit is named after the brothers Ricardo and Pedro Rodriguez, who died in racing accidents. Ricardo Rodriguez was only 20 years old, fast and fearless, when he crashed in a Formula 1 race without a championship on this track in 1962. The corner he died on has long been considered one of the most dangerous in the sport and was drastically changed to meet new safety standards when F1 returned in 2015.
Pedro Rodriguez drove 55 Formula 1 races and won twice. He died in 1971 at the age of 31 in a flaming accident at a lower race in Germany. Another Mexican driver, Moises Solana, died while racing in the United States in 1969.
By the time Perez showed up, they were the standard bearer of Mexican drivers in F1.
“Checo, if he wins in Mexico you might as well forget about it,” said Hellmund. “It’s going to be a wonderful revolution in joy. He could probably be elected president. “
___ Rodriguez reported from Mexico City.
___
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