After a turbulent 2020 in which he had to face COVID-19, the uncertainty after his departure from Racing Point and gave one of his best seasons, this December 18 Sergio “Checo” Pérez was announced as the new driver of the Red Bull Racing team for 2021 in Formula 1.
Through their Twitter account, the team published a short video in which they welcomed the pilot, while he also made his arrival to the team official: “I am happy to share this with all of you, in 2021 we will race with Red Bull Racing ”, wrote Checo Pérez.
Through a statement, the team explained that Checo will be teammates with Dutchman Max Verstappen, while Alex Albon will continue to be “an important member of the team”, although he will assume “the role of test driver and reserve for Red Bull Racing with a focus on key in the development of 2022, in the work on simulators and tire tests ”.
A few weeks ago, the Jalisco man achieved a victory in a Grand Prix (Sakhir) for the first time and had had good results before. That winning streak was responsible for Red Bull seeing him as the favorite option to join their team on a one-year deal.
“After taking our time to evaluate all the relevant data and performances, we have decided that Sergio is the right driver to partner with Max in 2021,” said Christian Horner, team principal at Red Bull Racing, who described him as “one one of the most constant and tenacious competitors in sport ”.
For his part, Checo was very excited about this opportunity. He also said “incredibly grateful” to the team, as he said that he always competes for the championship and that is something he had been waiting for since he joined Formula 1. He even spoke of the pride he feels for accompanying Verstappen.
“You can be sure that I will give my full attention next season. The team has the same winning mentality as me and I know that I am here to perform and help the team to fight for another title ”, he enthusiastically commented.
It should be remembered that after the end of the 2020 Formula 1 season, the heads of the 10 teams placed the Mexican in the fifth position among the best drivers of the year, thus marking the fourth time he has positioned himself in this ranking since he arrived. to the maximum circuit.
Pérez’s passage in Formula 1 has been constant. In 2012, with just one year in the competition, he managed to occupy the podium three times with Sauber (now Alfa Romeo), specifically in the Malaysian prize (second place), in Canada (third place) and in Italy. (second). Later came his first change of team to McLaren, where he did not have the best results.
Then he arrived at Force India, a team with which he again stepped on the podium at the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix, where he obtained third place. In 2015, at the Russian Grand Prix he got the same position.
For 2016 it reached another couple of third places, while in 2018 it climbed to the same rung on one occasion. However, this 2020, despite the difficulties represented by the pandemic and the uncertainty due to his departure from Racing Point, he achieved a second place in the Turkish Grand Prix and the first major victory in that of Sakhir, after coming back from the 18th place.
“What I have shown in the last 10 years, weekend after weekend, year after year, always having ups and downs, but always reaching the end of the year with good results,” declared the Mexican after his triumph. (GG) (Infobae)