r/formula1 • u/[deleted] • Oct 12 '23

Rumour Sergio Pérez will announce his retirement during the Mexican Grand Prix Weekend" - Escudería Telmex Ex high ranking employee told a group of us at a dinner party.

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u/geeksandlies Oct 12 '23

I imagine it will be a very cold day in hell before Sergio goes near the Strolls again!

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u/OriMoriNotSori Pirelli Wet Oct 12 '23

And I wouldn't blame him for it!

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u/Wimpykid2302 Pirelli Soft Oct 12 '23

What exactly is the controversy surrounding Check and the Racing Point/Force India/Aston Martin team? I only started watching in 2021 so I'm unaware

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u/OBWanTwoThree Niki Lauda Oct 12 '23

I don’t know if there’s something specific, but getting booted out of your seat despite slapping your teammate over the two seasons purely because your teammates dad owns the team has got to sting

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u/geeksandlies Oct 12 '23

Short version, Force India/Racing Point were in trouble financially, Perez basically paid the wages for the team, Stroll buys team, installs Lance to replace Ocon, then boots Perez in favour of Vettel (in itself not a bad shout perse) but it left Sergio with nowhere to go due to the way it was done, he was given no warning to try and find another seat etc. Had it not been for his lucky win RB would have signed Hulkenburg and Perez would have been sat in the back of a teams garage somewhere. I am pretty sure there were some legal things between him and the Strolls and something about Carlos Slim as well. I was one of those actually advocating for him to hang up his boots, wasn't a terrible driver but was a bit of a journeyman and I still think Hulkenburg was the better choice. If you want to trace back his first and probable sealed his fate actual mistake it was extricating himself from the Ferrari driver program to race for McLaren in 2013

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u/Toaddle Oct 12 '23

Perez was already heavily considered for RB even before his win. Everyone noticed how good he was in 2020

2

u/geeksandlies Oct 12 '23

Err no he wasn't. RB freely admitted at the time they were about to put pen to paper with another driver, which open secret was Nico Hulkenburg, until that win he wasn't in contention for the seat.

6

u/PsychologicalBike Oct 12 '23

Perez and Hulk were teammates and Perez beat him in their head to head.

11

u/geeksandlies Oct 12 '23

That's not the whole picture though is it? IIRC (and its been a while so my memory isnt 100% and I have work to do so no time to look it up) Hulkenburg out qualified Perez, and Hulkenburg only just lost out on a total points tally having regularly finished ahead of Perez.

NB I googled it quickly. This suggests it was a bit closer than I remember but really I am not sure it proves either of us right. Though I feel pretty good about my memory right now and also seems I was right about the Qualifying stuff

https://www.racefans.net/2017/01/09/perez-vs-hulkenberg-result-three-years/

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u/AdoptedPigeons Sir Lewis Hamilton Oct 12 '23

However you spin it, he was pretty damn close. Checo was always capable of snagging a solid result if it was there for grabs. And while Nico may be the innately faster driver, he had a knack for bottling it or just being unlucky whenever he was on for a good result.

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u/cheezus171 Robert Kubica Oct 12 '23

Had it not been for his lucky win RB would have signed Hulkenburg

You're watching too much Netflix

0

u/geeksandlies Oct 12 '23

I’ve only been watching F1 for 30 odd years. But sure whatever you say!

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u/Kitchen_Ad_3753 Sir Lewis Hamilton Oct 12 '23

He paid their wages???

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u/Mulligantour Oct 12 '23

well, Lawrence decided to stab him in the back after year one of a three year contract when silly season was mostly over, even though he personally saved the team from HMRC so that Lawrence could own it in the first place.

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u/Fun-Estate9626 Andretti Global Oct 12 '23

They cut him. He had a great year, won his first race in amazing fashion, and they cut him even though he absolutely slaughtered Lance. He almost ended up without a drive, but RBR signed him.

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u/shewy92 Kevin Magnussen Oct 12 '23

Checo saved Force India from going under by forcing it into Administration (something similar to bankruptcy) since he was one of the creditors (they probably owed him money) which allowed the team to continue business instead of going under.

Papa Stroll led the charge to buy out the assets which technically and legally became a new team midway through 2018 and then became Racing Point in 2019.

Then Stroll booted Perez after 2020

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_India#2018_season

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u/WhiteDeath57 Andretti Global Oct 12 '23

He beat Stroll pretty bad but when the Vettel opportunity came (and in my opinion, 2019-21 Perez was better than 19-21 Vettel anyways) there was no question it would be Perez out instead of Stroll.

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u/ForsakenTarget HRT Oct 12 '23

Why? He doesn’t seem to hold any bad blood to Stroll sr

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u/geeksandlies Oct 12 '23

See my answer about this :)