Sergio Perez (MEX), Red Bull Racing 02.10.2022. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 17, Singapore Grand Prix, Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore, Race Day.
Sergio Perez will complete his 250th Formula 1 grand prix start this weekend in Singapore, becoming only the 11th driver to reach that milestone.
The Mexican has been ever-present on the grid since debuting in 2011, going on to accrue six race wins, 34 podium finishes and three pole positions in the past 13 years.
Here’s a look back at Perez’s most memorable moments in the top flight.
2011 Australian Grand Prix
Perez’s debut outing coincided with F1 embarking on unchartered territory with a new tyre supplier. Bridgestone had exited at the end of the previous campaign, paving the way for Pirelli to re-enter the frame in 2011.
The Italian company had been tasked with avoiding the monotonous one-stop races of its predecessor by creating tyres that degraded more excessively and expanded the strategy options available to the teams, thus creating more intriguing events.
27.03.2011 Melbourne, Australia, Sergio Perez (MEX), Sauber F1 Team – Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 01, Australian Grand Prix, Sunday Race
The revamp favoured Perez, who immediately demonstrated out the blocks that he had a particular gift for being able to delicately nurse a set of tyres, most notably the rear ones. Having qualified only 13th, Perez was able to successfully complete an ambitious one-stop strategy to lead team-mate Kamui Kobayashi home in seventh.
Although both Saubers would be disqualified from the race for a technical infringement later on, Melbourne provided a glimmer of what was to come from Perez.
2012 Malaysian Grand Prix
The remainder of his maiden campaign proved steady if unspectacular, but Perez instantly burst into life at the beginning of his sophomore season. After securing an eighth-place finish in Melbourne, the teams were met with torrential rain on race day for the second round of the 2012 championship.
The McLarens ran in formation from the start, but both Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton suffered misfortune to hand the lead to Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. Perez moved into second, having made a masterstroke call to be one of the first drivers onto the wet tyre early in the race.
Sergio Perez (MEX) Sauber celebrates his second position on the podium. 25.03.2012. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 2, Malaysian Grand Prix, Sepang, Malaysia, Sunday Podium
As the track continued to dry, Perez began reeling in Alonso at a rapid rate. However, the arrival of the crossover period for slicks saw Sauber delay calling Perez into the pits, enabling Alonso to build up another comfortable buffer. Nevertheless, the Mexican began closing on the Ferrari again, reducing Alonso’s margin to only half a second with seven laps remaining.
But an error into Turn 14 saw Perez slide wide off the circuit, dropping him 5s behind Alonso again. Despite his best efforts, Perez was unable to get on level terms with the Spaniard by the chequered flag but took solace in recording the Sauber team’s best outright result as an independent entry.
2012 Italian Grand Prix
Overtaking both Ferraris on home territory at Monza to score a third podium of the year is worthy of a mention on the list, particularly when it arrived at a time when McLaren was about to be searching for a replacement for Lewis Hamilton, who would soon announce he was heading to Mercedes for 2013.
Felipe Massa (BRA) Ferrari F2012 leads Sergio Perez (MEX) Sauber C31. 09.09.2012. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 13, Italian Grand Prix, Monza, Italy, Race Da
Using his now customary party piece, Perez ran deep into the race before stopping to change tyres, then utilising the fresher rubber to mount a late charge through the field. The two red cars became two of his victims, much to the dismay of the adoring Tifosi, who were stunned to see the highest-classified Ferrari-powered driver coming in the form of young Perez in a Sauber.
2014 Bahrain Grand Prix
Perez’s switch to McLaren was meant to be the move that provided him with the machinery to challenge for regular race victories and World Championships. However, his arrival to partner Jenson Button came right as the Woking squad was about to nosedive in performance terms.
The MP4-28 would prove a hugely uncompetitive car, resulting in Perez struggling to adapt and getting dropped at the end of the year. Thankfully, the Silverstone-based Force India side was on hand to offer him a reprieve, joining Nico Hulkenberg to form an all-new driver pairing.
Nico Hulkenberg (GER), Sahara Force India and Sergio Perez (MEX), Sahara Force India 06.04.2014. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 3, Bahrain Grand Prix, Sakhir, Bahrain, Race Day.
Force India’s status as a Mercedes powertrain customer immediately transformed the team’s prospects for the year ahead when it became crystal clear the German marque had nailed the brand-new six-cylinder turbo-hybrid engine formula.
Therefore, at a power-sensitive Bahrain circuit, a potential podium was on the cards and Perez decisively nailed a move on his team-mate when he was jostling amongst the Williams cars midway through proceedings to seize a net third place behind the duelling Mercedes duo out front.
2015 Russian Grand Prix
A sluggish opening to the year had witnessed Force India playing catch-up throughout the season, but a series of upgrades had placed the British-based team into a more competitive reckoning.
Nico Rosberg had led away from pole position, but a stuck throttle pedal sent him tumbling into retirement, leaving team-mate Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel to race away.
Sergio Perez (MEX) Sahara Force India F1 celebrates his third position with the team. 11.10.2015. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 15, Russian Grand Prix, Sochi Autodrom, Sochi, Russia, Race Day.
An early pit stop during a Safety Car period had propelled Perez up into third place. Despite putting up stern resistance on the closing Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen, Perez’s resolve on ageing tyres was broken on the penultimate lap, with both Finns bypassing the hapless Force India.
However, Perez’s place on the rostrum was returned when Bottas and Raikkonen dramatically came to blows on the final tour of the race, the Ferrari driver being overly overambitious in his desperate attempt to overhaul the Williams for third position.
2016 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Force India had thoroughly carried its late-season momentum from the previous year into 2016 and Perez opportunistically profited from a chaotic rain-affected Monaco Grand Prix to secure a podium.
Whilst that result relied on several elements of good luck, the ex-McLaren racer’s third-place finish on Azerbaijan’s F1 debut was undeniably achieved on merit. After Hamilton became a cropper through the tight and twisty Castle section at the Baku City Circuit in Q3, Perez managed to clock the second fastest time in qualifying, only behind the all-conquering Mercedes of Rosberg.
Sergio Perez (MEX) Sahara Force India F1 celebrates his third position at the end of the race as he passes his team on the pit wall. 19.06.2016. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 8, European Grand Prix, Baku Street Circuit, Azerbaijan, Race Day.
Despite inheriting a five-place grid drop for a gearbox change inflicted on him by a crash in FP3, Perez impressively scythed through the field to notch the first of five podiums he has since scored in the Azerbaijani capital.
2020 Sakhir Grand Prix
Once the Covid-delayed campaign got underway, it swiftly became clear that the Racing Point RP20 was a fundamentally rapid race car. Contentiously drawing inspiration from the 2019 title-winning Mercedes, Perez had utilised the fastest car of his F1 venture to that point to gradually climb up the Drivers’ Championship, surviving a challenging Turkish Grand Prix to score a career-best second place.
But with his future unclear after being notified he would not be retained by Team Silverstone ahead of its rebrand to Aston Martin, Perez finally achieved his breakthrough victory at the optimal time. The Sakhir GP was his 190th attempt at winning a race, and it was well worth the wait.
The standalone race on the shortened version of the Bahrain circuit began with chaos on the first lap. Charles Leclerc, attempting to overtake Verstappen, got his braking wrong into Turn 3, wiping Perez out.
While the Ferrari was eliminated on the spot alongside the Red Bull, Perez remained in the race, albeit at the very back of the classified runners. The pink-liveried RP20 swiftly made progress through the field, climbing all the way to third once Perrez avoided pitting under a brief Virtual Safety Car.
Race winner Sergio Perez (MEX) Racing Point F1 Team RP19 celebrates in parc ferme. 06.12.2020. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 16, Sakhir Grand Prix, Sakhir, Bahrain, Race Day.
When another Virtual Safety Car interruption transitioned into a full Safety Car after Jack Aitken – deputing for Williams in place of George Russell, who had replaced the Covid-hit Hamilton for this round – had left debris on the track at the final corner.
That period descended into a strategic nightmare for Mercedes that placed Perez into an unfathomable lead. The German marque had incorrectly fitted Russell with Bottas’ tyres, resulting in the Briton requiring another trip – dropping him to fifth – and the Finn being left to later plummet down the order from fourth on ageing rubber.
Although Russell maximised the breathtaking pace of the Mercedes W11 to recover to second, a puncture in the closing stages removed him from contention for the victory, allowing Perez to saviour his final tours of the circuit on his way to becoming a grand prix winner for the first time in F1.
2022 Monaco Grand Prix
Aside from winning the World Championship or perhaps triumphing on home soil, emerging victorious at the Monaco GP is one experience every F1 driver wants to enjoy at some stage in their career. At the 2022 running of the historic event, it was Perez’s turn to reign in the Principality.
Perez qualified third behind the two Ferrari cars, edging out Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen by virtue of bringing out the red flags in Q3 for a crash at the Mirabeau corner. A monsoon before proceedings got underway saw the scarlet red Ferraris lead the way, but confusion reigned within the ranks of the Maranello-based squad during the subsequent crossover periods.
Red Bull Racing celebrate race victory for Sergio Perez (MEX) Red Bull Racing at the Red Bull Energy Station pool. 29.05.2022. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 7, Monaco Grand Prix, Monte Carlo, Monaco, Race Day.
Red Bull reacted quicker for the Intermediate tyres than its Italian counterparts, placing Perez ahead of polesitter Charles Leclerc before Ferrari’s gamble to transition Carlos Sainz from the wet compound to slicks backfired with a slow stop and traffic on the Spaniard’s out lap.
A huge crash involving Mick Schumacher through the Swimming Pool complex resulted in the race eventually being suspended. Once the action got back underway on a dry track, Perez was utterly perfect to retain the lead to the chequered flag, despite coming under bucketloads of pressure from the trio directly behind.
2022 Singapore Grand Prix
Perez labelled the 2022 Singapore GP as his ‘best performance’ in F1, and rightfully so. By this point of the season, Red Bull had established itself as the team to beat, but Perez had been winless since May’s Monaco GP as the F1 fraternity arrived in Singapore.
When Verstappen’s aspirations in qualifying were curtailed by a mistake regarding fuel, Perez was able to slot his RB18 onto the front row and assume responsibility as Red Bull’s leading contender. Unlike his team-mate five years previously, Perez didn’t get sandwiched by the Ferraris off the line on a greasy track surface, propelling his way past Leclerc to claim an important lead.
However, the now six-time grand prix victor was made to work for the winners’ trophy. With its searing heat and humidity, Singapore represents one of the most gruelling tests on the calendar. Furthermore, a damp track only added to the challenge awaiting the 20 drivers on the tight and technical circuit.
Race winner Sergio Perez (MEX) Red Bull Racing celebrates on the podium. 02.10.2022. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 17, Singapore Grand Prix, Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore, Race Day.
Unsurprisingly, many drivers made mistakes over the course of what became a timed race. However, there was a surprise in the names involved. Most notably, Hamilton and Verstappen made costly mistakes that ruled them out of podium contention.
Aside from a couple of misdemeanours under the Safety Car, Perez tentatively navigated his way through the barriers lining the Marina Bay with expert precision, extending his advantage over Leclerc by a big enough margin to have a five-second penalty applied and remain victorious.
Keyword: Perez at 250 F1 starts: The Mexican’s most memorable moments