Current Sergio Pérez

Sergio Perez Mendoza also known as 'Checo'. 21 years of age and 12 Grand Prix under his belt. Already has a contract for Sauber for next year, is part of the Ferrari driving acadamy, current favourite to replace Massa but what he didn't have was his own thread on Clip the Apex so I thought I'd sort him one out.

Won British Formula 3 at 18. Finished 12 in GP2 at 19. Finished runner-up in GP2 at 20. Made his GP debut at 21 and finished in the points only to be DQ'd later due to both Saubers breaking car regs. Had a big accident at Monoco and even chose to pull out of the Candian GP after realising he wasn't back to 100%. Has had 2 points finishes so far this season with his highest being a 7th place at Silverstone. Has been quite highly placed at both Spa and Monza in last couple of weeks but due to a tangle and a mechnical faiure didn't capitalise on it.

Has been beating his Team-mate Kobyashi reg in qualifying but has had difficulty translating that to the races. Sometimes you wonder if Perez suffers from Sauber tendency to try and make him do something different on the tyre strategy and whether he'd much rather just go for it and race with the pack. Having said that he has proved he has a head for strategy which could stand him in goodstead for the future.

Already impressed enough to get a second year with Sauber and is currently dueling with Paul Di Resta for the 'Rookie of the Year' award. What do you guys think of him? Star of the future or constant midfield runner?
 
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It's worth mentioning that he has a test with Ferrari this week, driving a 2 year old car.

The current thinking is he will replace Massa in 2013.

I don't really have an opinion on him at the moment.
There's a lack of consistency which makes it difficult to work out where he is in the pecking order.
 
For me, he’s a star of the future. With the testing restrictions in force now it’s very difficult for rookie drivers to come in and make an instant impact – most have taken time to find their feet (e.g. Alguersuari, Grosjean, Petrov). To be beating Kobayashi on both qualifying and race pace more often than not is very impressive for one of such tender years.

He did well against Alguersuari in 2008 British F3 with a team (T-Sport) that doesn’t have anything like the same record of success in the category as Jaime’s team at the time, Carlin.

I read an interview in Autosport where he said that his smooth driving this year is not in fact his ‘natural’ style, but something he has done deliberately to take the maximum benefit from the Sauber’s inherent tyre preservation characteristics. Whether this is the right approach or not, it tells me that Sergio is thinking a lot about his driving and working hard, and that will stand him in good stead.

He’s not proved himself worthy of a Ferrari drive yet, but then I’m not sure that Felipe Massa had back in 2006 either. If I was a big team principal with a gap to fill alongside a quick, experienced driver, I think he’d be at the top of my list, actually.
 
If he's given the time and encouragement from his team/teams then i can see Sergio Perez winning a world championship in the future, he to me has the star look about him but i'm not looking to far ahead because i said the same about Kubica and look at him now. But unlike the others in the last 2 years to come out of GP2 i can see him as WDC material more and i guess alot of the top teams will be chasing his signature for 2013 after he signed for Sauber again in 2012.
 
Hm...I am a bit unsure over him.

Di Resta looked like the real deal in Monaco, as did Perez after Australia, I can't say the same right now.
 
Can someone explain to me how a name like Sergio get's shortened to Checo? Or does this mean something else in Spanish?
 
Not sure - but there was a baseball player in the 90's who's name was Robinson Perez and he was known as Checo as well - so maybe its a nickname for Perez not Sergio
 
indeed but "Sergio you don't look yourself" or "Sergio we can see that your ill" would have been far more polite than "Sergio you're clearly unfit"

cheeky little Irish man. Not quite as bad as Sarah Holt and Jean Alesi thought "So Jean a lot of former world champions like yourself are here in bahrain........oh no, you never won it did you?"
 
FB said:
Can someone explain to me how a name like Sergio get's shortened to Checo? Or does this mean something else in Spanish?
Click to expand

Checo is a common nickname in Spanish for anyone named Sergio.Here and in Russia anyones name which is Alexander is frequently called Sasha.Nickolai is commonly called Cola.
 
RasputinLives said:
Poor old Perez - he's suffering from a bad case of Japanese flu, his car has an issue so he can't go out in Q2 and to top it all he has to go on TV and get told he looks like poo by Eddie Jordan!
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Well, I have said this in the Japanese GP discussion thread, that him and Rosberg, if tyre degradation is high as it's been stated, that they two should have strong races due to having fresh set of tyres.
 
well well well - take a bow Checo - sick as a dog but still brings it home best of the rest in 8th in Japan.

Starting to excited about the prospect of this guy in a Ferrari in 2013!
 
Here's Sergio's start from Abu Dhabi. He broke his wing when he somewhat clumsily clouted Sutil's rear tire while getting the power down onto the straight during Lap 1.

 
Although I realise he was losing time badly on tyres that were completely gone and was pretty much a roadblock for the cars behind can I just give a big round of applause to young Perez for showing us that even in the age of DRS the art of defensive driving is not dead.

Having watched the race live and on highlights I was taken with the brilliant way he defended his position. There was no blocking, or weaving or moving around he just placed his car perfectly at each corner in order to minimize the space and time the opponent behind him had to have a run at him. It was all perfectly fair but made the guy behind him actually have to work to take the position. If his car had only been half a second slower a lap than those chasing him rather than 2 seconds a lap slower I believe he'd have frustrated the majority of them for longer than he did.

nice one chap :thumbsup:
 
RasputinLives said:
Although I realise he was losing time badly on tyres that were completely gone and was pretty much a roadblock for the cars behind can I just give a big round of applause to young Perez for showing us that even in the age of DRS the art of defensive driving is not dead.

Having watched the race live and on highlights I was taken with the brilliant way he defended his position. There was no blocking, or weaving or moving around he just placed his car perfectly at each corner in order to minimize the space and time the opponent behind him had to have a run at him. It was all perfectly fair but made the guy behind him actually have to work to take the position. If his car had only been half a second slower a lap than those chasing him rather than 2 seconds a lap slower I believe he'd have frustrated the majority of them for longer than he did.

nice one chap :thumbsup:
Click to expand

I agree, but did he spoil it all on the final lap?
 

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