Red Bull’s Sergio Perez received emotional Charles Leclerc call after Mexican GP

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Sergio Perez’s  father has revealed the specifics of an emotional phone call between his son and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at the Mexican Grand Prix, after the Red Bull driver finished third in front of an ecstatic home crowd.

Antonio Perez Garibay was a prominent figure during the weekend’s activities, often by his son’s side during the 31-year-old’s first home race with Red Bull.

Not just that, Perez Snr was also seen reminiscing with Jenson Button about his father John, who died in 2014, and made such an impression in the paddock, and was tasked with signing off Sky’s coverage on Sunday.

But it wasn’t all plain sailing for Red Bull across the weekend, who were put to the test in Mexico after a poor qualifying session at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and were forced to start behind their main title rival.

Starting in third and fourth, both Red Bull drivers immediately went into attack mode, with Max Verstappen taking the lead of the race into Turn 1.

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Perez then spent the latter moments of the race trying to reel in Lewis Hamilton for second, and although he was eventually unsuccessful, was still able to take the final spot on the podium, with his father celebrating wildly as post-race interviews were being conducted on track.

Among the well-wishers, Perez Snr revealed Ferrari’s Leclerc, who lost his father in 2017, had reached out to his son, after seeing their strong bond across the weekend.

“Checo received a call yesterday from Charles Leclerc,” Antonio Perez revealed in an exclusive interview with MARCA Claro MVS.

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“He told him ‘Checo, you don’t know how happy I was to see your parents celebrating like that, it brought tears to my eyes. I would have loved my father to see me’.

“I didn’t know Charles’ father had passed away and that Charles had spoken to Checo.”

Whilst leading the Formula 2 championship at the age of 19, Leclerc’s father died just three days before the Monégasque took a stunning pole position in Baku, going on to secure victory.

Herve Leclerc, who was a Formula 3 driver in the 1980s and 1990s, died at the age of 54 after battling a long illness.

Speaking after his death in 2019, Leclerc admitted he told a little white lie in his father’s final few weeks, that he had signed to drive in Formula One before it was official.

“It was a bit earlier than I had really signed,” Leclerc recalls, “but in the end, I didn’t lie because I am here and now in Ferrari, which feels incredible.”

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