Sergio Pérez left Mexico as a teenager to pursue his dream of racing in Formula 1. However, he spoke neither German nor English, so being thousands of miles away from home in Germany and England was very difficult for him. The Red Bull Racing driver has more to say about this period.

Currently ‘Checo’ drives for Red Bull, but he started his Formula 1 career with Sauber. Especially in 2012 he was strong with the Swiss team by placing second. After a meager season at McLaren, the Mexican racer then spent seven years with Force India, which later became Racing Point. With that he won the Sakhir Grand Prix in 2020 and less than two weeks later he was announced as team-mate of Max Verstappen at the Austrian energy drink manufacturer.

Live above the restaurant

At the age of fourteen, Pérez moved from Guadalajara to Germany. There he lived above a restaurant where his team boss at Formula BMW was the manager. Without much success, he left for Great Britain two years later. He felt at home with the T-Sport team and became champion in the British National Formula 3 class in 2007. He promoted to GP2, which we now know as Formula 2, and won a number of races in the Asian championships held in winter. In 2010, the 20-year-old racer finished second in GP2 and has proven enough for Sauber to secure a seat in Formula 1.

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Leave everything

“There were so many moments during that trip that I thought ‘What am I doing here?’,” said the driver, who is now 33 years old. Athletics about his emigration to Europe. “It’s really one thing to drop everything as a 14 year old. To go out and fight for your dreams, it was huge. It was quite a shock at the time.” Pérez was very homesick when he lived in Germany and racing was not his priority anymore: “I was just trying to survive.” In England, his mental health improved significantly: “They treated me like I was their son,” he explains of the T-Sport team. “Those tough years are working in my favor now. I know I’m very strong mentally. In the end, that’s what you need in Formula 1.”