Sergio Perez is poised for perhaps the most important season of his career, his second with Oracle Red Bull Racing, a team which gives him both his best chance ever to succeed while also saddling him with his stiffest competition yet, both from Lewis Hamilton and George Russell over at Mercedes AMG Petronas and his own teammate, the reigning champion Max Verstappen.
To celebrate the opening of the new Tag Heuer flagship boutique in The Dubai Mall with Tag Heuer CEO Frederic Arnault, Perez came to Dubai ahead of the season opening in Bahrain this weekend, sitting down with Esquire Middle East to take a look at the new season as well as look back on his career, with revealing insights into what makes him tick.
Read our full conversation with Sergio Perez below:
Starting the season in Bahrain must bring back some wonderful memories of your first Grand Prix win two years ago. Could you walk me through your memories of that day, from your perspective?
It was a difficult race, because I got hit into the first corner, so I was last, basically. After lap one, it’s never a good sign when you’re last. But I didn’t give up. I pushed hard. Things happened during the race, and in the end, we ended up winning, and it was a great race for us.
Did winning a Grand Prix change your perspective, alter your mentality?
It changes once you’ve done it. Mentally, it breaks some barriers, and that makes you feel that you can do it more often.
How did moving to Red Bull Racing affect your mentality? You’ve been with the best team in the past, but what made this opportunity different?
I think it came at the right point at the right time now. I’m very established on the track, so being able to fully focus and fully commit to things and having experience behind me has helped me to approach these new challenges on the track.
What did you learn from your first year with Red Bull Racing that you’re applying to your second?
I think stability, because of the way the car is working, the philosophy of the car, although we’re going into a new car, this new philosophy is still important. That’s I what I learned last year.
Tests have gone extremely well for you so far, and it looks to be the best car out there. How does that affect the way you’re approaching the season?
I think right now, it’s just important to stay calm, to stay focused and, and make sure we deliver. Come this weekend, and after every weekend, I want to make sure we are able to deliver. I think with the new set of regulations, we will only find out after about five or six races where we really stand, so it’s very important that we are able to develop the car.
What are your other focuses moving into the season overall? Like what, what does this season have you thinking about?
Just in general to be able to maximize the full potential of our car, that would be really important.
How do you navigate your relationship with Max Verstappen, as both a competitor as a teammate, in your own mind? And how does that relationship change once you’re coming off this huge victory for Max?
We have good relationship on track and off track. We are able to push the team forward, we have a lot of respect for each other, and things really work well between us. I think Red Bull as a team is in a really good place.
Do you learn something from the racers that you partner with?
Definitely. It’s always good to be able to learn things from your teammates. I’ve been very privileged in my career, to be able to have some good teammates out there.
What have you learned from Max?
He’s very natural. He’s able to go to the limit fairly quickly. I think that’s the most impressive thing about him.
How do you learn from that, though? How do you apply that back to yourself?
Well, you see how he operates, how he’s able to deliver and some things that he does work well. Everyone has their own way, but it’s always good to be able to get through it and learn from other drivers. I think it’s not a bad thing.
What are you focused on this season in particular?
Just to get the maximum points available for us as a team. I think that will be key during this long championship season, that will be very important, for everyone to be able to extract the maximum points.
The first Saudi Grand Prix feels like only yesterday, and now the second is only a few weeks away. What did you learn from that first wild race that you’re applying to the next one?
I mean, just to never give up. I think that’s a great lesson, not to give up throughout the race, make sure you push through to the checkered flag and then see where it takes you.
This season will bring a lot of changes to the schedule as well. Russia is cancelled, Qatar will resume next year, and we have new locations filling the gaps. How do you think that changes the season?
You are thinking always ahead. You have to finish a race, then you analyze things that you could have done better, and what is there to improve, and you try to apply it into the next weekend. That’s how you are able to give some consistency throughout the championship season.
How do you feel that you’ve changed as a driver and as a person over the years?
I think I’m more mature. Things that I used to worry about, dealing with time, and realizing there is only so much you can control in your personal life, and in in the sport itself. You want to use energy and things that you can influence, and the things that you can use. You just learn to keep things away from you.
If you career ended tomorrow, would you be satisfied with what you’ve accomplished, or are there still goals you’ve set for yourself that you would be disappointed not to achieve?
I have a lot of goals to achieve in sport. I want to be a world champion. That’s what I what I came here for. But if things were to finish tomorrow, I will also be very satisfied, because this is a very difficult sport. You are against the best drivers. I think you can go home satisfied as long as you gave everything with all the opportunities that you’ve had. But if things finish tomorrow, I can leave and move on to the next chapter of my life very happily.
What are the things you’re most proud of? Is it the wins? Or is it something else?
With the career I’ve had throughout the years, 12 years in the sport, it speaks for itself.
How do you look back on who you were at the start?
When I was 19 and just entering the sport, I felt like I knew everything. I thought I had nothing to learn. And through years, you realize that there’s always things you can learn. You learn every day meeting new people, interacting with new teams, with new drivers and you’re always evolving in life. You’re always learning to connect with new people.
Do you feel like you love racing the same way that you did when you first got in the car?
Yeah, yeah. For me, racing has always been there, the passion to compete. I’m a very competitive person, so has always been there, and is still there with me. I hate losing. That kind of passion is still is there. That’s why I’m here.
How do you look at the field this year? George is moving up in Mercedes, and going back to that race in Bahrain, he was a huge part of that race—and your win. Do you focus on your competitors, or just yourself?
I just focus on myself. I know that the competition is pretty high, we have probably the highest field, the highest level of drivers ever in the sport right now. Everyone is really, really good, at really good levels. So I’m just focusing on myself and trying to make sure I am able to deliver every single Sunday.
Who are the people you trust? Who do you go to for advice?
My team.
There are no other people that have stayed fixed throughout your career? It’s only who you’re working with that moment?
No, I think it’s very important that you trust your team. To be able to trust your team in this sport is very important, and I am very lucky to have that with Red Bull, l to be able to go back to them and ask for anything and know that they are going to be fully transparent with me.
Are there any ways you feel people misunderstand you as a person?
That’s not that I will be spending energy on. There’s only so much I can do at the end of the day. This is a small part of my life, and I have another life out of the sport as well.
When you’re not racing, when you’re not with your kids with your family, what do you focus on?
Being happy. That’s my focus. We’re always trying to enjoy the moment, be happy and bring happiness to the people around, just having a good laugh. I think that’s what life is about.
What makes you happy other than winning?
Very normal stuff, being able to being around my family with friends, having a good time, having a good laugh, having a nice [agave beverage] with friends. That’s the kind of things that I think is life about. It’s all you need in life.
What’s your room service order after a race?
Club sandwich.
Any particular specifications?
The usual sandwich.
I would ask what drink you have with it to wash it down, but I guess it’s a Red Bull.
Exactly.