Sergio Pérez

From Guadalajara, Mexico — a city that now celebrates its most famous sporting export with a passion that borders on the religious — Sergio "Checo" Pérez built one of Formula 1's most patient, persistent, and ultimately rewarding careers. He made his debut in 2011 after years of junior development funded partly by family sacrifice and hometown support, and spent the better part of a decade delivering consistently outstanding performances from machinery at Sauber, McLaren, and Force India that rarely matched his talent. His maiden Formula 1 victory at the chaotic 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix with Racing Point — capitalising on the carnage around him with trademark calm and clinical tyre management — was one of the hybrid era's most celebrated results.

The move to Red Bull in 2021 elevated him to the sport's highest competitive level, where five further victories and 39 podiums in total made him not only Verstappen's most effective wingman but indisputably the most successful Mexican Formula 1 driver in history. His release at the end of 2024 after a challenging final season was followed by a year away before Cadillac confirmed him as co-lead driver for their historic 2026 debut — Formula 1's first American manufacturer-backed entry in decades, built partly around Pérez's enormous experience and impeccable racecraft.

Patient, precise, and at his absolute best when the race is at its most chaotic, Checo is the consummate under-pressure performer.