Sergio Michel "Checo" Pérez Mendoza (Latin American Spanish: [ˈseɾxjo ˈpeɾes] ⓘ; born 26 January 1990) is a Mexican racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula One from 2011 to 2024.

A member of the Ferrari Driver Academy since 2010, Pérez signed for Sauber in 2011 to partner Kamui Kobayashi, making his Formula One debut at the Australian Grand Prix, where both were disqualified for an illegal rear wing.

Pérez placed fourth in the championship with Racing Point in 2020, taking his maiden win at the Sakhir Grand Prix, having been in last-place at the end of the first lap.

Replaced by Sebastian Vettel at the re-branded Aston Martin for 2021, Pérez signed for Red Bull to partner Max Verstappen; he took his first victory for the team at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

[17] He failed to repeat the result in Malaysia where body parts flew off Sébastien Buemi's Toro Rosso car and into the electrical system of Pérez's Sauber, forcing his retirement.

[29] At the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix, he qualified a career-best eighth, but finished the race in eleventh place after problems with pit strategy and his car's clutch.

[32] In the European Grand Prix, Pérez qualified in fifteenth place, citing a handling imbalance and the car feeling "unpredictable" as reasons for the gap to Kobayashi in seventh.

[46][47] In the Bahrain Grand Prix, he started 12th on the grid and finished 6th ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso (8th) and his teammate Jenson Button (10th), with whom he had a fierce duel in which they touched on a couple of occasions, increasing the competition between drivers in McLaren on the following races.

He's extremely quick and he did a great job today but some of it is unnecessary and an issue when you are doing those speeds.At the 2013 Monaco Grand Prix Pérez performed several aggressive overtaking moves, before retiring after colliding with Kimi Räikkönen.

[52] On 12 December 2013 (exactly a month after it was announced he would leave McLaren), Force India confirmed that Pérez would join Nico Hülkenberg in their driver line-up for 2014 in a 15 million Euro deal.

[53] In the Australian Grand Prix, he finished 11th but was moved up to 10th to get his first point for Force India due to Daniel Ricciardo being disqualified for breaching fuel limits.

At the Canadian Grand Prix, Pérez was again fighting for another podium finish until the car suffered braking issues, later resulting in losing the third-place position to both Red Bulls.

In Monaco, Pérez scored his sixth (and Force India's fourth) podium finish in wet and changing conditions and moved to ninth in the Drivers' Championship standings.

[61] In the European Grand Prix in Baku Pérez once again finished third, recovering from a gearbox change penalty as a result of a crash during free practice, having been fast enough to qualify on the front row.

He remained with the Indian team for a fourth consecutive season alongside new teammate Esteban Ocon, ending speculation of a possible move to Williams, Renault or Haas.

[81][82] Pérez was 3rd for the majority of the Bahrain Grand Prix after starting 5th, but an MGU-K electrical issue struck with only a few laps to go, forcing him to pull over and retire the car with flames billowing out of the power unit.

[90] At the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Pérez qualified on the front row in 2nd place, just 0.035 seconds behind polesitter Lewis Hamilton, outqualifying his teammate Max Verstappen in P3.

A crash from Nicholas Latifi on the same lap meant that the safety car was brought out, allowing Leclerc, Verstappen and Sainz to make a pitstop and keep track position, demoting Perez to 4th place, where he would finish the race.

On lap 39 his teammate Max Verstappen retired from the race due to mechanical problems and Pérez was then running second behind Charles Leclerc, which he held until the finish.

[106] He overtook Carlos Sainz Jr. at the start and later fought with George Russell for third place, which turned into a battle for second after teammate Max Verstappen went wide.

On Lap 31, after not being allowed to switch with Verstappen by the team, Pérez overtook Russell on the medium tyres when his teammate pitted and took the lead of the race, Charles Leclerc having retired earlier.

Team principal Christian Horner said it was tactical to not start on the pole due to the slipstream effect, which could help a driver take the lead going into the Les Combes corner.

[119] At his home race in Mexico, Pérez qualified fourth and overtook George Russell to once again finish on the podium in third place, behind Lewis Hamilton and teammate Verstappen.

At the season opener in Bahrain, Pérez was even with teammate Verstappen in their last qualifying laps until the final corners, where oversteer moments cost him pole by nearly 0.15 seconds.

Teammate Verstappen climbed up to 2nd place from 15th, but Pérez' slightly faster pace meant he won the race by nearly 5 seconds, his fifth career victory and first one in the 2023 season.

[125] At the Miami Grand Prix, Pérez qualified in pole position after an error from Ferrari's Charles Leclerc caused a red flag late in the session.

Pérez started the 2024 season with back-to-back second-place finishes in the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, before picking up two more podiums in Japan and China.

As polesitter Charles Leclerc's tyres began to degrade, Pérez and Sainz found themselves in contention for 2nd place, both attempting to overtake the Monegasque driver.

For a majority of the season, Pérez was consistently outperformed by teammate Max Verstappen, and as the RB20 dropped in form with McLaren and Ferrari achieving race wins and podiums, Red Bull began to put pressure on him.

Following the season, Pérez and Red Bull mutually agreed to terminate his extended contract, ending a four-year partnership;[136] he was replaced by Liam Lawson.