Sergio Perez’s four-year stint at Pink Bull is at an finish – and with that, his Formulation 1 profession seems to be over too.
The 34-year-old who began his 281st grand prix this yr has been proven the door on the finish of the season with two years left to run on his contract.
This isn’t unfamiliar territory for Perez: the identical occurred to him in 2021 when Racing Level let him go. However on that event Pink Bull rode to his rescue. This time there are not any vacancies on the grid for 2025.
Perez has lasted longer as Max Verstappen’s group mate than another driver: Daniel Ricciardo walked after lower than three years, Pierre Gasly was booted out after half a season and Alexander Albon lasted a yr and a half. The group showered him with reward for the position he performed in serving to Verstappen clinch his first world championship in 2021 by delaying his rival Lewis Hamilton through the title-deciding race in Abu Dhabi.
Even three years on the group was nonetheless introducing him because the ‘Mexican minister of defence’ at their season launch. However Perez’s 14 years as an F1 driver deserves to be remembered for way more than the time he efficiently performed rear-gunner. Listed here are 10 of his finest performances since his debut.
10. 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Grid: 1st; Race: 4th
Early in 2022 Perez appeared to click on extra readily with Pink Bull’s first reply to Formulation 1’s new floor impact laws. He claimed his first pole place in Jeddah and regarded on target to take victory till a poorly-timed Digital Security Automotive interval helped Verstappen and the Ferrari drivers get forward of him. He was subsequently under-rewarded for considered one of his finest performances in a front-running automobile.
9. 2013 Indian Grand Prix
Grid: ninth; Race: fifth
Perez’s McLaren stint was thought-about a failure on the time. Nevertheless it wasn’t appreciated on the time that the group was heading right into a hunch which it has solely just lately emerged from: It was the primary of eight consecutive seasons through which they did not win a race.
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This was one other race characterised by heavy tyre degradation: eventual winner Sebastian Vettel pitted for recent rubber simply two laps in. In a season when McLaren fell to fifth within the championship, Perez’s run to fifth within the Indian Grand Prix was their finest end result till the ultimate race of the season, and considered one of few highlights that yr.
8. 2011 Australian Grand Prix
Grid: thirteenth; Race: Disqualified (rear wing)
A stable debut efficiency which ought to have been rewarded with a factors end yielded nothing as each Saubers have been disqualified for rear wing infringements. Perez began 4 locations behind group mate Kamui Kobayashi however led him to the chequered flag.
This was Formulation 1’s first race after switching to new tyre provider Pirelli. Perez proved a grasp of their fragile early rubber from the off, rising up the order on a single-stop technique.
7. 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Grid: third; Race: 1st
A development emerged over Perez’s 4 years at Pink Bull, through which he would carry out higher earlier within the season, then tail off as they yr went on. In 2023 he received twice throughout his early purple patch, together with at Baku – at all times a powerful venue for Perez – the place he merely out-ran Verstappen.
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Azerbaijan’s circuit has remained considered one of his finest venues: even amid the purgatory of the second half of his 2024 marketing campaign, Perez was on target to out-score Verstappen in Baku till his unnecessary late collision with Sainz.
6. 2016 European Grand Prix
Grid: seventh; Race: third
Perez clicked instantly with Baku’s uncommon, high-speed road circuit. He completed on the rostrum on his debut however it may have been even higher – he initially certified on the entrance row however a grid penalty as a consequence of a gearbox change following a crash in observe meant he began seventh.
5. 2012 Italian Grand Prix
Grid: twelfth; Race: 2nd
One other race which underlined Perez’s credentials as a ‘tyre whisperer’. He began on hards, ran lengthy and switched to mediums, then picked off the likes of Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Rosberg and Ferrari pair Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso for second.
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In direction of the top of the race he started to shut on chief Lewis Hamilton, a lot in order that McLaren suggested their driver to extend his tempo. No surprise McLaren thought-about Perez price a punt as Hamilton’s substitute the next yr.
4. 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix
Grid: 4th; Race: third
After being axed by McLaren only one yr into his stint on the group, Perez teamed up with Nico Hulkenberg to type an all-new line-up at Drive India. Many anticipated Hulkenberg to have the beating of his group mate, however Perez got here out on prime when the pair crossed swords on the second spherical of the season in Bahrain, proving his lack of podium finishes the yr earlier than had been extra the automobile’s fault than his.
3. 2022 Monaco Grand Prix
Grid: third; Race: 1st
Situations on the observe to do precisely that in 2022 race. Lining up third forward of Verstappen – who reportedly suspected his group mate intentionally crashed in qualifying to safe his place forward of him – he tracked the Ferrari drivers early within the race.
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Timing his change to slick tyres to perfection, Perez jumped into the lead and stayed there, resisting strain from Carlos Sainz Jnr as his tyres grained badly over the ultimate laps.
2. 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix
Grid: ninth; Race: 2nd
An early change to moist climate tyres as rain fell at Sepang proved an impressed transfer for Perez, which put him within the lead of a race for the primary time in his F1 profession. He misplaced the result in Fernando Alonso within the pits as a consequence of a fast Ferrari tyre change, however spent the remainder of the race tailing his rival.
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As Perez held second and minimize Alonso’s lead from over seven seconds to at least one, his race engineer Marco Schupbach warned him at one stage “Checo, watch out, we want this place,” which some thought-about a coded warning to let their engine provider win. Nevertheless it was true that Sauber wanted the second place, and arguably Perez additionally wanted the warning, as he slid off the moist observe greater than as soon as. That didn’t cease him delivering Sauber’s finest end result as an impartial group.
1. 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix
Grid: fifth; Race: 1st
Perez needed to wait longer than another driver – 190 races – for his first grand prix win. However when it lastly got here he delivered it in model – and at a time when his future in F1 was in critical doubt. He was only one week away from his closing begin for Racing Level, who had terminated his contract for the following two seasons to be able to rent Sebastian Vettel.
The Sakhir Grand Prix, a one-off held within the pandemic-struck 2020 season on Bahrain’s uncommon Outer circuit, bought off to a frantic begin. Perez made it as much as third behind the 2 Mercedes when Charles Leclerc punted him off.
From 18th, Perez mounted an astounding cost again to win. It was an evening of competing fairytale tales: George Russell may have received in his first look for Mercedes as an alternative to Lewis Hamilton, however his misfortune handed victory to the motive force whose profession was hanging by a thread.
After the season finale, Pink Bull signed him up, and the Sakhir Grand Prix proved not Perez’s penultimate begin however his first of six grand prix wins.
Over to you
What do you fee among the many finest performances of Perez’s profession? Have your say within the feedback.
