Sergio Pérez’s time driving the Red Bull Racing cars is complex to analyze. On the one hand, the Mexican has achieved the best results of his sporting career and on the other, he has known the other side of Formula 1, that of the squire drivers, in this case, of a legend in the making like Max Verstappen. After leaving the competition in the last Japanese Grand Prix, ‘Checo’ Pérez made the decision to hire a coach to regain emotional clarity.
The 2023 Formula 1 season started promisingly for Sergio Perez but has declined towards the middle of it. For the final stretch, ‘Checo’ aspires to fight again for the top positions. After winning a new constructors’ championship for Red Bull, ‘Checo’ is freed from team play to focus in their individual achievement. For that, Sergio Perez will have to put in order something more complex than his car, his mind.
In conversation with dutch journal De Limburger, ‘Checo’ acknowledged that he is not in his best emotional moment. He’s don’t have the maximum mental clarity and he decided to hire a coach.
In 2022, in the context of his great victory at the Monaco Grand Prix, Sergio Perez signed an extension with Red Bull but shortly after his performance declined. This season, ‘Checo’ has won two races, in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan, and was on the podium another six times, having spectacular comebacks and displays of talent, but he also had real nightmares in qualifying and had to leave the track twice. first at the Miami Grand Prix and more recently at the Japanese Grand Prix. The extremes in the Mexican’s performance are beginning to raise alarms.
These extremes, plus the media pressure that Formula 1 demands, undermine the driver’s mood even at home, revealed by Sergio Pérez himself, which is why he made the decision to resort to professional help.
The problems on the track stay on the track
“Formula 1 is my sport, my life, my passion. If you have such a bad time at work, it is difficult to be happy at home with your wife and children. That is why I hired a mental coach, because my family deserves it having that happy father at home,” said the 33-year-old born in Guadalajara, Mexico, 11 years after having debuted in Formula 1 as a driver for the defunct Swiss Sauber team.
Coaching is not only focus on Checo’s personal life. Also enhance the sporting aspects. “I started working to become the best version of myself at home, but also as a driver. As a result, I have regained a positive mindset.”
Being Verstappen’s teammate
Perez’s contract expires at the end of the 2024 season and the issue is whether he will renew with the Austrian team. “It would be great if I could finish my career here. But being a driver for this team is not easy. Red Bull Racing operates in a different way to most teams. But that’s also why they are so successful. The car, it’s built from a “different approach from the other teams and of course, you have to deal with Max Verstappen as a teammate. It’s not an easy task. There are few drivers who can deal with that pressure, sometimes the toughest in Formula 1.” commented ‘Checo’ Perez.
A final stretch to shine
To no one’s surprise and despite the abandonment of ‘Checo’ Perez on lap 15 of the Japanese Grand Prix after colliding with Kevin Magnussen’s Renault, the points achieved after one more victory for Verstappen secured the constructors’ world championship for Red Bull at missing 6 grand prizes to be played: Qatar, United States, Mexico, Brazil, Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi.
This can be beneficial for Sergio Perez’s performance since, freed from the pressure of the collective result, he can focus on his individual results, with the clear objective of winning the Mexican Grand Prix next October; The issue is that Red Bull will surely focus all its power on securing the drivers’ championship for Max Verstappen (which will soon be consummated) and in that effort, they will put the Mexican’s sporting interests in the background, but even with this, it will depend of ‘Checo’ to put his psyche in order and focus on closing the season in the best way and showing that he still has a lot to offer in the highest category of world motorsport.
