Sergio Perez

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Sergio Perez has spent most of his Formula 1 life proving he was harder to remove than people expected. That stubborn quality took him from midfield rescue acts to Grand Prix wins, a Red Bull seat and, now, a fresh start with Cadillac in 2026.

Sergio Perez was born in Guadalajara on January 26, 1990, and arrived in Formula 1 with a style that made sense almost immediately. He was fast enough, certainly, but his real calling card was subtler than outright pace.

Sergio Pérez Mendoza

• Races (starts):283
• Wins:6
• Podiums:39
• Pole positions:3
• Fastest laps:12
• Driver of the Day:14
• World titles:0
• Points (total):1638

Data source: F1DB (GitHub)

Perez had an unusual feel for races as they developed, especially when tyres became a puzzle rather than a fixed number. That instinct became the backbone of his career. It also made him one of those drivers teams value deeply, even when the paddock conversation moves on too quickly.

He entered Formula 1 with Sauber in 2011 and quickly built a reputation as a driver who could make long stints, offset strategies and opportunistic podiums look almost routine.

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McLaren gave him a shot in 2013, but that season became one of the first important turning points in his career for the wrong reason. Perez was quick, aggressive and occasionally untidy, but the fit never really worked. For plenty of drivers, an awkward McLaren spell that early would have left a permanent mark. For Perez, it became part of a larger pattern. He kept coming back.

That resilience is probably the cleanest way to understand him. Perez did not build his reputation as a generational qualifier or as the sport’s most dazzling one-lap specialist. He built it as a survivor and points-scorer with real technical value.

His years at Force India, later Racing Point, showed that clearly. Those teams often lived in the gap between ambition and budget, and Perez was exactly the sort of driver who could thrive there. He could drag results out of imperfect weekends, keep the car in the fight, and give the team a level of consistency that mattered financially as much as competitively.

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That phase also explains why he became such a respected midfield figure. Perez had edge when he needed it, and his racecraft could be forceful, but he was rarely random. He was a practical driver. He understood when to attack, when to preserve, and how to turn a race into something more useful than it first appeared. Formula 1 likes romance, but teams like drivers who make Sundays more profitable. Perez was one of the best in that category for years.

His finest single afternoon probably remains Sakhir 2020.

That win mattered beyond the result itself. Perez had spent years looking like one of the best drivers never to win a Grand Prix, and then, when the chance came in a chaotic race, he took it. More importantly, he took it in a way that reflected his career. The drive was tough, patient and opportunistic rather than theatrical. It was a breakthrough that felt overdue rather than miraculous.

Red Bull signed him for 2021, and suddenly Perez’s role changed completely.

At Racing Point and Force India, he had often been the man carrying the team’s scoreboard. At Red Bull, he became the second car next to Max Verstappen, which is a very different job and, in modern Formula 1, one of the least comfortable seats in the sport.

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Perez did enough there to become an important Red Bull driver. He won races, helped the team secure the Constructors’ Championship in 2022 and 2023, and added five victories during his time with the team. He was not there to become the centre of the project. He was there to support a winning structure without disappearing entirely inside it.

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That balancing act is where Perez becomes interesting, because his Red Bull years were both successful and limiting. At his best, he was exactly what Red Bull needed: experienced, calm under strategic pressure, strong in tricky tyre races and capable of winning when the opportunity opened.

At his worst, he looked vulnerable in qualifying and too often trapped in Verstappen’s shadow.

Both things can be true at once. Perez was good enough to help a top team win titles, but not quite strong enough to make the team feel divided between two equal centres of gravity.

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The end came after a difficult 2024 season, when Perez and Red Bull agreed to part ways despite a contract extension earlier that year. That detail tells its own story. Formula 1 is ruthless with second drivers at the front, and Perez eventually ran into the part of the sport where results alone are not enough unless they arrive in exactly the right shape. Red Bull moved on in December 2024. Perez stepped away for 2025.

Then he returned for 2026 with Cadillac, which chose him and Valtteri Bottas as the experienced line-up for its first season on the grid. Cadillac’s leadership described Perez not just as a racer but as a builder, and that feels accurate.

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That is the part of Sergio Perez’s story worth keeping in focus. He has never been an F1 fairytale hero, and he has rarely been treated as one of the sport’s defining stars. But he has lasted, adapted and won in environments that asked very different things of him.

284 Grands Prix entered, six wins, 39 podiums and three pole positions as of April 2026. Those numbers describe a serious career. The shape of that career says even more. Perez has spent years proving he can be useful in almost any context: underfunded midfield team, opportunist podium car, front-running support act, and now the experienced face of a new project.

At 36, Perez’s Cadillac chapter is unlikely to rewrite his entire reputation. It does not need to. His place in Formula 1 is already clear enough. He is the kind of driver who make teams sturdier, races smarter and career setbacks look temporary. In this sport, that is a harder trick than it sounds.

FAQ

Who is Sergio Perez in Formula 1?
Sergio Perez is a Mexican Formula 1 driver who has raced for Sauber, McLaren, Force India, Racing Point, Red Bull and, from 2026, Cadillac.

How many Formula 1 races has Sergio Perez won?
Perez has six Grand Prix wins.

What is Sergio Perez doing now?
Perez returned to the Formula 1 grid in 2026 as a Cadillac driver after leaving Red Bull at the end of 2024 and spending 2025 away from a race seat.

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