Sergio Perez has his back against the wall when it comes to a spot in Formula 1 for next year. The only option seems to be Red Bull Racing, where he has competition from Nico Hulkenberg. Eight years ago the world looked very different for the Mexican.
Perez got off to a flying start in Formula 1 and was widely regarded as a future race winner, especially after finishing on the podium in Malaysia between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton in 2012. Alonso even said to Perez after the podium ceremony: 'Don’t worry, wins would come for you soon'. However, that has not been the case.
No Ferrari and Mercedes
A year later, Perez was faced with an important decision, he could remain loyal to Ferrari as an member of the Ferrari academy or move to McLaren. Even Mercedes was an option: "We were talking to Mercedes but that depended on Hamilton, I was second choice is what they said," Perez said on the Formula 1 website.
Perez chose McLaren at the end of 2013 but was also close to a seat for Ferrari: "2013 I was close to a seat for Ferrari. That was very close. In hindsight, if I hadn't gone to McLaren, I would certainly have gone to Ferrari, but things change very quickly in F1. McLaren dominated at that time, they offered me a contract. It made a lot of sense then. Unfortunately it did not pay off. The car was pretty bad, and I was not able to score with a podium or fight for anything other than points. A lot has changed since then."