Sergio Perez won his 4th Grand Prix in Singapore. It was a resilient drive in difficult wet conditions, with Charles Leclerc on his tail throughout the race. But ‘Checo’ kept his nerve and saw the race through, finishing with 25 points. The win might have invited much praise for him now, but the media didn’t paint as rosy a picture of the Mexican before the Singapore fixture.

In a season where Max Verstappen has dominated, Perez has been subjected to constant criticism for not being able to match his teammate. The Grand Prix winner, however, feels that the criticism has been excessive and might have to do with his nationality.

Sergio Perez on undue criticism

After the win at the Singapore Grand Prix, Perez echoed the issue that Fernando Alonso has raised in the past. He talked about how drivers from Latin countries are picked on more by the F1 media.

Checo said, “whenever you have a bad race or a little bit of a bad patch, as any other driver, sometimes with the Latin drivers you can hear a bit more criticism.” He compared how other drivers in a similar situation do not invite as much criticism as he does. He said, “it’s not like the year has gone [badly] – you see it with other drivers, that they have similar issues, and it’s hardly being talked about.”

He continued, “sometimes I feel people don’t really understand the situation that I’m in, the team that I’m in, who I’m facing, all of that.”

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Checo said that while the issue had to be pointed out, the beauty of the sport comes from the back and forth between the media and the drivers. Perez confessed sportsmen like him derive their motivation from this.

Perez on the legacy he wishes to leave behind

Checo was only 15 -years old when he moved from Mexico to Germany to compete in Europe. He has in the past admitted to feeling lonely away from home and that feeling got worse when his credibility was questioned.

Checo had some advice for kids from Mexico who want to enter Formula 1 like him. He said, “You have to come at a very young age to Europe, first of all. To be able to race with the best drivers, with the similar weather conditions, all these sorts of things that you only get in Europe, not anywhere else.”

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Perez is currently tied down on a contract with Red Bull till 2024. While a title this year is highly unlikely, he is still mathematically in the race against his teammate.