On his 2011 race debut, Sergio Perez Mendoza became only the fifth Mexican to make it into Formula 1racing. Seven seasons and two team moves later, he is a firmly established Formula 1 star who also flies the flag for his nation, Mexico City have returned to the F1 calendar in 2015.

Born in Guadalajara on January 26, 1990, Perez has been a member of Escuderia Telmex, which supports racing drivers in various categories, for a number of years, enjoying a close personal relationship with Telmex Chairman Carlos Slim Domit, who has taken a keen interest in his motorsport career.

Perez began his motorsport in karting, where he won a total of five championships, before making his single-seater debut in the US-based Skip Barber National Championship in 2004. With Telmex backing, he finished 11th overall, as well as taking seventh in the Skip Barber Dodge Midwestern series.

For 2005 he headed to Europe and Germany’s Formula BMW ADAC series with Team Rosberg. A podium in only his second race, at Hockenheim, helped get him noticed en route to 14th in the championship. By the end of 2006 he was up to sixth, after another two podiums, this time with the ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg team, and had also made two appearances representing Mexico in the China rounds of the A1 GP series.

The next step in his racing education beckoned and it came in the form of the highly-competitive national class of the British Formula Three series. Driving for the T-Sport team, it brought Perez his first single-seater title and promotion to the international class for 2008, when he again excelled, taking four wins, seven podiums and one fastest lap on his way to fourth overall...