Sergio Perez funded by world’s eighth richest man with huge £78billion net worth

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Sergio Perez may be trailing teammate Max Verstappen by 99 points in the Formula One drivers’ championship, but while he’s got the backing of a Mexican billionaire he’ll be going nowhere. Despite winning two Grand Prix so far this season, the Red Bull driver has come under pressure for being unable to match the pace set by his Dutch colleague despite driving the same car.

Runaway championship leader Verstappen has won eight of the first 10 races in a display of near dominance. The future of Perez’ seat has been brought into question by the return of Daniel Ricciardo to F1 with AlphaTauri.

According to Crash, the Australian-born driver agreed to take the seat in order to try and impress enough to get a shot with Red Bull. But money talks in Formula One and Perez certainly is lacking in that regard.

That’s because the South American’s career is supported by fellow Mexican Carlos Slim. Having made his fortune through ownership of Latin America’s biggest telecoms company, he is currently worth £78.2bn making him the eighth richest man in the world. He also used to own a 17% stake in the New York Times.

Slim’s vast wealth is good news for Perez, who knows how fortunate he is to have the back of such a wealthy individual.

Speaking to The Player’s Tribune, Perez said: “I was very lucky. I had known Carlos Slim, the man himself, since I was a little boy, thanks to my dad and his work for [ex-Mexican racer] Adrian Fernandez.

“Carlos was also the guy behind Escuderia Telmex, so he had always been very important to me. But getting him to send me to Europe was a different story. He hadn’t gotten rich by throwing away his money, and he had absolutely no plans to send a 14-year-old kid to another part of the world. I didn’t really like to ask him about it either, but I just wanted it so badly. So I kept going to him like, ‘Oh, please, pleeeeease could you help me get to Europe?’

“Every time he would say the same things. ‘Son, it’s too early. We don’t need to go to Europe. The U.S. is great. Let’s wait a bit.’ Blah, blah, blah. Every time I would disagree. When I got the offer from Günther [Unterreitmeier, a team boss in Formula BMW], I called Carlos again.

“Did he listen to me? Naaaah. Not really. Hahaha. The only reason he gave in, I think, was that he saw a kid who just wanted it so much. I was desperate. I was willing to do anything.

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“In the end he probably got so tired of me that he actually saw the value in sending me off to a different continent. My family was ecstatic. Soon we were driving down to Toluca with a one-way ticket to Munich.”

On arrival in Germany in 2005, Perez was allowed to live in a restaurant owned by his team manager for four months. He finished 14th in his first season before moving up to sixth the following year.

After moving to British Formula Three in 2007, he won the National Class championship before finishing fourth in the International Class a year later. He then competed in the GP2 Asia Series before finally breaking into Formula One in 2011 with Sauber.

The Mexican’s confirmed seat just so happened to coincide with Sauber striking a sponsorship deal with Telmex, proving once more that it helps to have a significant backer in your corner as Perez does.

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