After the great interview offered by Sergio "Checo" Pérez on the podcast "Beyond The Grid", the Mexican driver spoke for the first time in a long time of a painful situation experienced by him during his time as a karting driver in Mexico, today we see Sergio Pérez in the Racing Point team already established in F1 and we think that the life of an F1 driver is fascinating and privileged, that appearing in many media, advertising campaigns, being famous and successful is guaranteed, but like all had to overcome many obstacles to achieve their dream, as in that already distant 2003, when at age 13 he was racing in Mexico ...

It is not strange that Checo is a seasoned driver and that he never gives up in an F1 race, since he was a child he had to face the uncertainty and ignominy, the negative attitudes of human beings who tried to get him out of the way to achieve that his determination was greater than ever.

Many do not know this story, but here we will relive it for all of you, had just left the position as president of the Mexican Federation of Sports Motorsport the Swiss Francesco Soldati, of nefarious background for many in the national environment, was reputed to benefit to his friends and a new group had arrived from which different things were expected ...

But Sergio Perez suffered from not being part of the group of "protected", one of the greatest rivals in track of Perez, Klaus Schinkel Jr., had a meeting on the track with Checo in a valid Shifters 125, after which got the mood and some brought out the worst of themselves, the father of Klaus (a man known in the middle) using their influences and aggressively intimidated the director of the race named Tejeda to sanction Checo without reason ...

Schinkel got his way and Checo was sanctioned, they took from Sergio a triumph that gave him the leadership of the Copa México, while the Schinkel, father and son were not sanctioned for having threatened with death and insulting the authorities in track. Anybody from the motor world in Mexico knows and remembers how things were with some pilots and their parents at that time in Mexican karts.

But that was not all, the viciousness against Sergio reached a ridiculous degree, because he was also prevented from participating in the all-important Karts race of the CART Series program at the Hermanos Rodríguez autodrome in Mexico City, under the ridiculous "argument" that he was suspended for the events that occurred in the race of Lerma.

At the end of November 2003 Checo was going to participate in an Easy Kart championship race of which he was a leader, but when the organizer arrived he told him that he could not run, obviously at the request of the same Mexican Federation of Motorsports ...


Photo: sergioperez.mx


Checo was never officially notified of being suspended, but it was a fact that they did not let him run and that they wanted him out of the competition, after it was learned that a character with the surname Ricardez (who was the president of the Karts commission) was the one who had called the various organizers and promoters to prevent (under threat) Sergio from participating in any race in the national territory.

Meanwhile, the infamous Schinkels and other rivals of Sergio in the various Karts championships in Mexico were happy because they had frozen that driver that otherwise they could not win, because by stupid decisions and low blows Sergio ...He could not run in Mexico!

Faced with this terrible situation Sergio Pérez and his brother Antonio (champion of the Nascar Mexico 2007), decided to go to train at the "Hermanos Gallo" circuit in Guadalajara Jalisco, in single-seater that another great Mexican driver (Tomás López Rocha) gave them, in total They gave more than 250 laps each, aboard a Formula Vee, a Formula Reynard and a Formula 3, getting great times in each of the 3 cars, the road for these brothers was just beginning, they were hard moments but the determination of Checo and the support of his father Antonio Pérez Garibay and transcendental characters like Tomás López Rocha (champion of the IMSA serial of prototypes in the US), Carlos Slim Domit and Jimmy Morales were forging Checo to achieve that dream, that one day ... not very Far away, to be an official F1 driver.

 
Checo is the first Mexican driver to reach F1 in more than two decades, after the adventure of Hector Alonso Rebaque in the 80's, Pérez since 2011 when he debuted with Sauber continues to write his story with golden letters for Mexican motorsport, is already the driver born in Mexico with more podiums on history in F1, today he´s in Racing Point after his brief stint in Sauber and Mclaren. Sergio is starting his ninth F1 season in 2019 and he is barely 29 years old, so we still have a lot to see with Checo in the world's top motorsport category.

This is the real story of why Sergio Pérez decided to go abroad to follow his dream of being an F1 driver and not give up despite the fact that in his own country they tried to cut his wings, as he has told in the official Podcast of the F1 "Beyond The Grid".

 Sergio did not officially run again in Mexico until 2015 with the return of Formula 1 to Mexican soil (although he was reserve driver of the Mexico team in the missing A1 GP nations series, he did not participate as a starter in the weekend of the race of Mexico 2007) but as always happens, life has rewarded all the hard work and that unwavering faith of becoming a full-fledged F1 driver. Chapeau Sergio!
Chinese Grand Prix Report