Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, MP4-28, 2013 Car, Sergio Perez
Mexican born Sergio Pérez Mendoza joined McLaren in late 2012 as Jenson Button’s team mate following the departure of Lewis Hamilton. Despite only being twenty-three, Sergio has been racing in Formula 1TM since 2011 for the Sauber Formula 1™ Team partnering Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi. During the 2012 season Sergio achieved three podium finishes for Sauber at the Malaysian, Canadian and Italian Grand Prix, finishing the season with 66 points in tenth position of the Drivers’ Championship, two places above his team mate Kobayashi.
Sergio’s relationship with motor racing started behind the wheel of a kart at the young age of six. In 1997 he took part in the Youth Class where he was the youngest driver ever to take part in this category. He was not the first in his family to have in interest in motorsport; his father Antonio Pérez Garibay also raced cars before becoming the manager of driver Adrián Fernández. Within the industry Sergio is also known as ‘Checo’ Pérez and in November 2012 he unveiled the ‘Checo Pérez Foundation’ which is a specialist charity that supports orphans and children with cancer