Sergio Perez will return to the Formula One grid for his sixteenth season of racing since his debut in 2011 for Sauber. His big break came following the announcement in 2012 that Lewis Hamilton was leaving the McLaren team for Mercedes and Checo was recruited as his replacement.
Perez quickly developed a reputation for aggressive driving with his team mate Jenson Button criticising his race craft after the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix. “I’ve raced with many team-mates over the years and with quite an aggressive team-mate in Lewis, but I’m not used to driving down the straight and then my team-mate coming along and wiggling his wheels at me and banging wheels with me at 300km/h. I’ve had some tough fights in F1 but not quite as dirty as that. “
His McLaren career lasted just one season and the Mexican driver left to join the Silverstone based Force India team for 2014. Yet it was following the announcement he would be leaving the team at the end of the 2020 season, when he claimed his maiden F1 victory in the Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain.
Checo’s uneasy Red Bull legacy
Red Bull Racing decided time was up for Alex Albon and the team recruited Perez late in the year to partner Max Verstappen for 2021, where it is claimed he helped his team mate win his maiden drivers’ championship, by holding up Lewis Hamilton in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. In fact Perez’s efforts were irrelevant given a late safety car bunched up the field leaving Max behind Lewis at the restart.
Checo spent four years racing for Red Bull and was the first driver they had recruited outside of their junior programme since Verstappen himself in 2015. Yet in his final year, Perez’s contribution fell off a cliff, and was responsible for McLaren claiming their first constructors’ championship since 1998. The uneasy legacy of Sergio Perez’s four-year stint at Red Bull has resurfaced after remarks from his father, Antonio Perez Garibay, sparked a sharp rebuke from Jos Verstappen.
Speaking in Mexico, Garibay argued that his son was denied equal machinery alongside Max Verstappen and claimed that, with identical equipment, Perez could have become world champion. Jos Verstappen wasted no time in dismissing the suggestion.
Jos responds: “Idiot!”
“What an idiot that guy is,” Jos wrote on social media. “He’s always been given the same material. But just needs to step on the gas.” The exchange has reignited a long-running debate about Perez’s role at Red Bull during a period when the team dominated Formula One, winning four consecutive drivers’ titles with Max between 2021 and 2024.
Over their four years together, Verstappen swept to four straight titles, while Perez collected five race wins and numerous podiums. Yet his inability to consistently challenge Verstappen’s pace became a recurring theme. By 2024, his form had dipped so significantly that Red Bull chose not to renew his contract, instead promoting Liam Lawson.
Lawson himself was replaced after just two race weekends by Yukli Tsunoda and the debate over equal treatment at Red Bull has raised its head once again. Tsunoda has revealed he only received Verstappen’s floor specification midway through 2024, fuelling questions about whether the senior driver’s machinery was always replicated across the garage. For Perez’s father, it was confirmation of his long-held belief.
Perez: “Nothing to prove”
For Jos Verstappen, however, the suggestion that Max’s titles were built on preferential treatment was intolerable. Protecting his son’s reputation as the defining driver of the era, Jos doubled down: Perez had equal tools but failed to use them as effectively.
It is a sentiment echoed by many within the paddock. Red Bull’s cars were often tailored to Verstappen’s aggressive driving style, amplifying his natural advantage over teammates. Perez occasionally delivered drives of brilliance, but over a season the gulf was stark.
Perez himself has moved on. After sitting out 2025, he will return with Cadillac for the marque’s Formula One debut in 2026, partnering with Valtteri Bottas. “I feel like there’s nothing to prove,” Perez said recently. “It’s been a very tricky place to be in, to constantly adapt and to build confidence. For me, it’s more of a comeback to enjoy the sport. I couldn’t afford to leave the way I left, and this new project gives me the opportunity to finish my story differently.”
Perez seeking redemption
He added: “This is about happiness, not pressure. I want to enjoy the sport that has given me so much and hopefully help Cadillac become competitive.” The spat between Jos Verstappen and Antonio Perez reads like an after-dinner argument gone public. Garibay insists his son would have been champion with equal machinery; Jos counters with “just step on the gas.” It’s playground stuff, but in Formula One, even parents fight as though they were team principals.
Perez’s Red Bull career will always be remembered for Abu Dhabi 2021, where he held off Hamilton like his life depended on it. But beyond that, he was cast as the loyal lieutenant — the Barrichello to Verstappen’s Schumacher. Antonio Perez may rage about “equality,” but the reality is that Max’s car could have been built from an IKEA flatpack and he still would have found a way to beat Checo with three bolts missing.
Now Perez seeks redemption — or at least peace of mind — with Cadillac. Perhaps the greatest irony is that while his father and Jos continue trading blows, Perez himself just wants to enjoy driving again.
F1 is for sale confirms Liberty Media
Liberty Media chairman John Malone has admitted that Formula One could be sold if the right offer arrived, stressing that shareholder value will always dictate the company’s decisions. Speaking on the Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast, Malone said: “It’s a public company. If somebody gets carried away and they want to buy it and they’re willing to pay more for it than the board thinks that they can deliver to the shareholders, then we would sell it.”
The statement highlights Liberty’s pragmatic stance. Since acquiring F1 in 2017 for $8 billion, Liberty has presided over a commercial boom. But the championship is not off-limits should an investor meet the right valuation.
Rumours swirled in 2023 that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund had tabled a $20 billion takeover bid, though this was never confirmed. What is clear is F1’s financial trajectory: Liberty’s NASDAQ-listed FWONK shares have risen from around $30 at the time of purchase to nearly $100 today…. READ MORE
27.10.2019. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 18, Mexican Grand Prix, Mexico City, Mexico, Race Day.
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With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
