Who does Checo Pérez see to be the next Checo Pérez?

Last October, AM850 interviewed Checo Pérez and he pointed out the drivers who could succeed him as Mexican representatives in F1 and reflected on a hypothetical retirement.

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When Sergio Perez debuted in the Formula 1was the first Mexican in almost 30 years to start a Grand Prix and thanks to him, the presence in the Maximum Category has remained, but is there the possibility of seeing another Czech Perez?

Who better to answer this than Checo Pérez himself and the candidates that the Mexican sees to inherit, as he said, one day the fruits of the work that he began in F1.

The names are Noel León, Pato O’Ward and Santiago Ramostoday two of them have positions close to F1: Noel León as a driver for the Prema team of the F3; Pato O’Ward, star of the indycar and reserve F1 driver McLaren.

The third, Santiago Ramos, has not yet announced his plans for 2025.

Although it was announced on Wednesday, December 18, that Checo will no longer be a Red Bull driver and that there is no seat available for him on the grid, Pérez’s career in F1 is not over, he is just turning 35 and He is an attractive driver for any team that wants to make an adjustment mid-season or for 2026.

But one day he will retire and, for now, everything seems to indicate that 2025 will be the first season without Mexicans in F1 since 2010.

It was that March 27, 2011 at the Melbourne circuit, when Checo Pérez returned to Mexico to F1. had been Hector Rebaque the last one who had participated in a GP on October 17, 1981 in Las Vegas. Now it’s time, either with the return of the man from Guadalajara himself or some young pilot, to make the wait not so long.

Interviewed by AM850 on October 24, prior to the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix, Checo Pérez reflected on your path to Formula 1, the challenges and difficulties experienced.

Also in that talk, unpublished until now, he touched on the topic of who can in the future follow in his footsteps in F1 and “inherit” the baton of representing Mexico.

Retirement, which he saw in two or three years, was another topic that was covered with Checo for eight minutes.

Given the circumstance that the Mexican pilot is now experiencing, we present the complete interview that provides very current points of view and a very close vision of him.

AM850: Checo Pérez, not long ago we celebrated 14 years since we found out that you were going to be in Formula 1. You are still here and many times we do not realize that you have won six races, you have 39 podiums, 276 races started (now they are 281), that only two of the pilots who were there that year are still here. How difficult have these 14 years been?

Sergio Perez: “Yes, it’s crazy, like we’re already used to F1 and we see everything as very normal, but it’s been difficult, it’s been about constant struggle, never giving up, when you think you’re already at your limit, knowing new limits and that has been my career.

AM850: How complicated was it for you to arrive and do you think it is more complicated for a Mexican than for a European?

SP: “Absolutely, totally. Simply because I am very of the idea that you have to go very early, you can go from the gokarts, I did not have the opportunity to do gokarts in Europe because of the money, but you have to go to Europe at 14 , 15 maximum, you have to be with the best drivers in the world, again with age, develop there, because that makes it more complicated for a Latin driver, I would say that you have to leave many things behind.

“So the challenge is even bigger than just driving, than just running, is to add this external factor, which is a very important one, that already keeping you in Europe, living there was a challenge, staying there alone, speaking very little with your family. .

“Now, maybe it’s a little easier with technology, but even so, it’s still very hard to miss many moments of your adolescence, all of that.”

AM850: That’s the hardest part, the personal part. But in the part of entering the world, the ladder, that path that takes you to Formula 1, what would be the strongest obstacle?

SP: “I believe the results. You have to win Formula 3, you have to win Formula 2, in the end you have to be outstanding in the lower categories, stand out a lot, because there are already very good drivers and normally it opens up, if you’re lucky, one or two open up places in sport.

AM850: Do you think it is less difficult now for a Mexican, Latin American, now that you have opened the door a little?

SP: “Now we see it as normal, now there are a lot of fans, I think it is also easier to get support, because people are aware that we need a Mexican to inherit all this that has been created.

“When I came to Formula 1, the formula did not exist (in Mexico) and all this that has been created now, I would love for the day that I am no longer here, there to be a driver who connects a lot with the people, who brings the results, because now I am criticized a lot and we see it as very normal, but we must not forget how difficult it is to be here.”

AM850: In the economic part, which you touched on now, the supports, don’t you think that now it is much more expensive than before?

SP: “Yes, that is also an important factor to take into account. It is a very important factor that it is now more expensive than before, but I am convinced that when the Mexican arrives who convinces, the sponsors are ready, the brands are hungry for idols.

“So, I think that when there is that driver who connects with the fans, with the sponsors, in the end, my dad always told us ‘driving the racing car is the easiest thing’, it is the package that you have to realize, everything that package that we have to teach the new generations, which is not just driving the car, it is convincing the sponsors, connecting with people, it is convincing your entire team environment and that is what makes it complicated.”

AM850: Do you right now think that there is someone who is closer to the Mexicans to be able to have an opportunity here?

SP: “We have Noel (León in F3), we have Pato (O’Ward in Indycar), Santi Ramos (F3), they are great drivers, but it will depend on, I believe, that this coming year for them is crucial, that They have to surprise in their categories, not only win them, but surprise.

“And that part that I tell you about connecting far beyond driving the car, will depend on the new generations.”

AM850: Do you think we will have another Checo Pérez in Formula 1 again?

SP: “Aaah.. I would love to see it, the truth is I would love to see it because I think the fans deserve it. We see an F1, we would see a very different Formula 1 with Mexico, which without Mexico, I would love nothing more… (but) today, today, I cannot answer it to you, honestly.”

Thank you for these four years @redbullracing
I wish you the best. pic.twitter.com/9vLUwvqBDl

— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) December 18, 2024

AM850: How much time do Pato, Santiago, Noel have between now and you retiring to get your act together and not leave us without a Formula 1 driver?

SP: “It’s a matter of timing. Age is a very important factor in Formula 1, as more and more young people are arriving, you already have (Andre Kimi) Antonelli (with Mercedes) who is going to debut at 18 years old. It is these phenomena that the teams are looking for.

“You see what happened to (Franco) Colapinto, no one expected that he would be in Formula 1 and suddenly they change drivers, it turns out that he is a great talent.

“So I believe that it is more than anything this package, that I believe that there are crucial years in the drivers’ careers and I believe that if they are not in Formula 1 in the next two years, the train is already leaving.

“There are also other very good categories, but to be in Formula 1 I think it has to be in two, three years.”

AM850: And you plan to retire someday, I guess. Will it be soon?

SP: “Without a doubt, we are arriving, the end is closer than the beginning, with 14 years here, with my children increasingly at more important ages and ages that I do not want to miss. “I’m going to be here for a maximum of three more years.”

AM850: What role does the pressure you constantly have play? It’s not this year, it’s not last year… You have been, you have been under pressure your entire career, signing one-year contracts and with rumors and with real things, like Yuki asking for an opportunity to test at Red Bull with the support of Sling…

SP: “No, the pressure, when you are here, you build it before, in the previous years. I never had more pressure than when I was 14, if I didn’t win the race I didn’t know if I was going to run and my career was over. Or when I was in Formula 2 (GP2), that if I didn’t win the race I wasn’t going to have the opportunity in F1, that if I didn’t win the next race it was going to be like this. So you grow up with this type of pressure, which is very important.

“And that character was formed many years ago in Formula 1. And I’m not telling you that I’m armored, but I have skin, thick skina skin, a skin, that (thick).

“It’s no problem. What’s more, the issue of my children, the biggest limitation is my children.

“For me I could continue here for 10 more years, but with 24 races a year and everything that surrounds me, they are important ages that I am missing out on and I don’t want me to spend much more time with that.”

AM850: If you had to leave Formula 1 tomorrow, would you leave calmly?

SP: “Yes, totally. I believe that what I have experienced in my career, what I have done, exceeds any dream, any expectation. I have reached levels that I would not have imagined in my wildest dreams. I have lived incredible moments.

“If this were to end today, I would leave very calm, because more than what I have achieved, it is because I have always given everything. A professional in every sense of the word, every day and looking back and spending 14 years in Formula 1, it is easy to say, but it is a career that many drivers would like.”

AM850: When you finish this career as a Formula 1 driver, do you see yourself helping other Mexicans get there? Do you see yourself in any role in Formula 1?

SP: “No, the truth is that fame has cost me a lot on this issue.

“I am a person, my mother you know her, I am very low profile, I really enjoy my privacy and fame in that sense I am always shy, it has always been difficult for me and I really want to do things outside of sport.

“Without a doubt, if a Mexican pilot arrives, he will ask me for any advice, all the Mexican pilots I talk to them and they know that they have my door open for any advice, but being in charge and traveling with this circus, I already did it.” “many years.”

Thus, the talk ended and Checo still raced five Grand Prix in 2024. We are left with the fact that he sees his successors clearly, that he wants to race for a maximum of three more years and that he would like someone to take the reins and, perhaps, why not ? Let him continue as young people come to replace him as the Mexican face of F1.