Sergio Perez

Pérez drove for the Campos Grand Prix team in the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series, partnering Russian driver Vitaly Petrov. He was the first Mexican driver to compete at this level of motorsport since Giovanni Aloi took part in International Formula 3000 in 1990. He won his first GP2 Asia Series race at Sakhir, winning from lights-to-flag in the sprint race having started from pole position. He added a second win at Losail, during the sprint race of the night meeting in Qatar.

Pérez began his career at the age of 6 years in karting in 1996. In his first year of competition he achieved four victories in the junior category at the end of the year and claimed the runner-up spot in the category. In 1997, he participated in the karting Youth Class, where he was the youngest driver in the category and earned a win, five podiums and finished fourth in the championship.

In 1999, he raced in the 80 cc Shifter category, where he took three wins and finished third in the championship. Pérez also became the youngest driver to win a competition in the category, after obtaining special permission from the Federation to participate in the 80 cc Shifter.

In 2000, he raced in the Shifter 80 cc Championship, and also participated in three races in the Shifter 125 cc category which was part of the Telmex Challenge. However, Pérez was not satisfied with the results and the following season, was up for another championship, this time on the 125cc Shifter Regional, and once again was the youngest driver to compete in the category. With all these achievements, the Mexican driver caught the attention of scouts for Escuderia Telmex.

With six wins in 2002, Pérez finished as the national runner-up in the Shifter 125 cc category, and participated in the global race Shifter 80 cc, in Las Vegas, where qualified fifth and finished in 11th place.

In 2003, he was leading both championships in the 125 cc category, but withdrew from the last seven races, which proved to be a disappointment in his title aspirations. However, he finished in third place in Telmex Challenge, in addition to winning the Cup runner-up in Mexico. In the same year, he was also invited to attend the Easy Kart 125 Shootout, where he competed against drivers from around the world and managed to qualify in first place to eventually take the checkered flag, while he was the youngest in the category.

Pérez competed in the United States-based Skip Barber National Championship in 2004. Driving for a team sponsored by Mexican telecommunications company Telmex, he finished eleventh in the championship.

For 2008, he and T-Sport graduated to the premier International Class of the championship, where he was one of the few drivers to be equipped with a Mugen Honda engine. After leading the championship early in the season, he eventually finished fourth in the drivers' standings.

On 4 October 2010, Sauber announced that Pérez would join the team in 2011, replacing Nick Heidfeld. Sauber subsequently announced a partnership with Pérez's sponsor Telmex. He became the fifth Mexican to compete in Formula One, and the first since Héctor Rebaque competed between 1977 and 1981. He also became a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy scheme in October 2010.

Both Pérez brothers are football fans, stating that they thought about leaving car racing to play professionally. The brothers are friends of Mexican international Javier Hernández. In an interview in 2012 for the official Formula One website, Pérez revealed that if he had not been a driver he would have liked to be a lawyer.

In November 2012, Pérez unveiled the Checo Pérez Foundation to support orphans and children with cancer. His sister Paola was the foundation's president. In December 2017, Pérez and his partner Carola Martínez welcomed their first child, Sergio Pérez Jr. Pérez and Martinez were married on 1 June 2018. On 14 September 2019, their second child, Carlota Pérez, was born.

On 28 September 2012, Lewis Hamilton's decision to leave McLaren for Mercedes in 2013 was announced, and Pérez was subsequently confirmed as Hamilton's replacement. He also replaced Hamilton in McLaren's cartoon Tooned. This also ended Pérez' association with Ferrari, as he was released from its driver academy.

At the 2013 Monaco Grand Prix Pérez performed several aggressive overtaking moves, before retiring after colliding with Kimi Räikkönen. Following the incident Räikkönen said that Pérez should be "punched in the face". Pérez recorded a season-best fifth-place finish in India, finishing four seconds shy of the podium, a result that left him "extremely satisfied".

Pérez confirmed on 13 November 2013 that he would be leaving McLaren at the end of the season to be replaced by Kevin Magnussen. On 12 December 2013 (exactly a month after it was announced he would leave McLaren), Force India confirmed that Pérez would join Nico Hülkenberg in their driver line-up for 2014 in a 15 million Euro deal.

On 12 December 2013, Pérez had his drive for Force India in 2014 confirmed.

On 7 November 2014, before the Brazilian Grand Prix, Force India announced that Pérez would remain with the team for the 2015 season. Pérez stated that contract negotiations were "ongoing", in regards to a further contract extension. The deal was officially confirmed at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Pérez signing a new two-year contract, until the end of the 2016 season.

The 2015 season started with a 10th place for Pérez in Australia, followed by a 13th in Malaysia, an 11th in China and an eighth in Bahrain. He came fifth in Belgium and sixth in Italy. His best race of the season was in Russia, where he scored his first podium of 2015 and Force India's third ever. He finished the 2015 championship in ninth, his highest championship position to date, with 78 points. He outscored teammate Hülkenberg by 20 points. Besides the podium finish in Russia, he managed three further top five finishes in Belgium, USA and Abu Dhabi; he scored 63 of his 78 points in the final nine rounds. In the second half of the season he out qualified his teammate in six of the last nine races, and eight times throughout the season.

After the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix, Pérez confirmed he has committed to Force India for the 2017 season. He remained with the Indian team for a fourth consecutive season alongside new teammate Esteban Ocon, ending speculation of a possible move to Williams, Renault or Haas. He was very consistent with his highest finish in 2017 a fourth place in Spain after two rivals collided at the start, and a third retired mid-race with a power unit failure. He ended his streak of 17 points finishes as he ended up colliding with Daniil Kvyat in Monaco. He had a moment with his teammate in Canada when he would not allow his teammate through, who thought he could challenge Daniel Ricciardo for 3rd. He was again knocked out in Baku where he thought he could challenge for the win before colliding with Ocon. He finished 7th in Austria and moved up to 6th in the standings after Max Verstappen was out of the race on the first lap. He dropped to 7th in the championship after finishing 9th in Britain, behind his teammate and Verstappen finished 4th. He remained 7th in the standings for the rest of the season.

The 2019 season saw Racing Point Force India become Racing Point, retaining Pérez as a driver. He was joined at the team by former Williams driver Lance Stroll. Racing Point saw 2019 as a transitional season, with much of the work on that year's car being disrupted by the administration events of the previous year. A strong start to the season, including a 6th-place finish in Azerbaijan, was followed by a string of eight races without points, the longest such string of his career. This included the rain-affected German Grand Prix, where he crashed out early in the race whilst teammate Stroll briefly led the race and eventually finished 4th.

Pérez had signed a contract extension with Racing Point, for whom he was meant to continue racing with until the end of 2022. Three days before the British Grand Prix, he tested positive for SARS-2 coronavirus which causes COVID-19. Due to this, he was unable to participate in the British Grand Prix. He was temporarily replaced by Nico Hülkenberg. It was confirmed that he would also miss the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, as he had again tested positive for COVID-19. After testing negative for COVID-19 after the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, Pérez returned to race at the Spanish Grand Prix, he qualified fourth and finished the race in fifth position. In September 2020, Pérez announced that he would be leaving Racing Point at the end of the 2020 season. He will be replaced by Sebastian Vettel as Racing Point become Aston Martin for the 2021 season.