Having forged a career out of overachieving with mid-field teams, Sergio Perez currently stands unemployed beyond the 2020 F1 season. However, seven years ago, Perez got the chance to race with one of the best teams on the grid, McLaren, following an excellent season with Sauber.

If Perez had a time machine at his disposal, he may well have chosen differently. In fact, as per Perez’s revelation, he could have been racing for Ferrari or even Mercedes. Who knows, he could well have even been a world champion today.

Perez said, “It was all natural, I was part of the Ferrari Academy. There was a lot of contact with the team.

“It was a natural step that a driver part of the academy would be linked to them. It was all looking like I was going there, but then things changed.”

Instead, Perez chose McLaren, who had done ended the previous season close behind Ferrari in third place. However, things didn’t quite work for Checo at the Woking-based outfit.

McLaren finished the campaign in fifth, nearly 200 points off fourth-placed Lotus. Perez had a dismal campaign with 49 points and was shelved in favor of Kevin Magnussen.

Reflecting on his decision, Perez added, “2013 was the closest I came to going to Ferrari.

“In hindsight, if I hadn’t gone to McLaren, I certainly would have gone to Ferrari.

“McLaren at the time were dominating, they offered me a contract. It made a lot of sense at the time. Unfortunately, it didn’t pay off,” he added.

“The car was quite bad, and I was not able to score any podiums or fight for anything apart from points.”

Why didn’t Sergio Perez opt for Mercedes?

Well, the straightforward answer to that was, he wasn’t the team’s preferred option. Perez said, “We were talking to Mercedes. But that really depended if Lewis didn’t go there. I was the second option.”

Safe to say, that move panned out well for Lewis Hamilton, as well as for Mercedes. It must be incredibly difficult for Perez to think about what could have been.

Nevertheless, he may finally get another opportunity with a top team. Red Bull are on the lookout for a driver to partner Max Verstappen next season, and many are touting the Mexican to be the leading candidate.

Will Checo get a seat in F1 that he so richly deserves? Or will he be left high and dry for 2021? It’ll be an interesting thing to keep an eye on.