Formula 1: Sergio Perez eyeing major overlooked streak

By Asher Fair | Dec 6, 2020

Sergio Perez, Racing Point, Formula 1 (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images) /

Sergio Perez may be out of a ride for the 2021 Formula 1 season as of now, but that shouldn’t stop him from extending a series-best streak that is being overlooked.

Sergio Perez may rank second on the all-time “Formula 1 races without a win” list, having competed in 189 races since making his debut with Sauber back in 2011, but he has never had the opportunity to run race-winning equipment at the highest level of the sport.

That hasn’t stopped him from getting the absolute most out of his equipment, something he has done through the first 15 races of the 2020 season, having only failed to score points when he missed the two races at Silverstone Circuit following a positive test for COVID-19 and when a mechanical failure robbed him of a podium result late at Bahrain International Circuit.

Only Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who has already clinched a record-tying seventh world championship, can say that he hasn’t failed to score points in any of his starts this season.

But Sergio Perez is on track to do something else in the 2020 Formula 1 season that is impressive, and it is something that no other active driver can currently claim.

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In fact, only one other active driver can claim to have pulled off this particular feat at any point throughout his career. Perez entered the 2020 season having not failed to beat a teammate in the driver standings since 2014, when Nico Hulkenberg beat him at Force India by just one position.

In 2015 and 2016, Perez beat Hulkenberg, and in 2017 and 2018, he beat Esteban Ocon. In 2019, he beat Lance Stroll, and he is on pace to beat Stroll again in 2020, as he currently sits in fifth place in the standings with 100 points while Stroll sits in 11th with 59, despite the fact that he has missed two races while Stroll has only missed one.

That would give the 30-year-old Mexican six consecutive victories over his teammates. Among active drivers, only four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel has ever pulled that off, having beaten his teammates each season from 2008 through 2013 while at Toro Rosso (2008) and Red Bull (2009 to 2013).

He can clinch the win in today’s Sakhir Grand Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit outer layout by holding at least a 26-point lead over Stroll once it concludes.

As noted, both Racing Point drivers have been forced to miss at least one race this season due to illness. Perez missed both races at Silverstone Circuit while Stroll missed the race at the Nürburgring.

Hulkenberg filled in on all three occasions, although he never actually got to compete in the first race at Silverstone Circuit due to mechanical issues.

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Entering the 2020 season, only one other driver had beaten his teammate for more than two consecutive seasons, with that being Hamilton. He beat Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas in 2017, 2018 and 2019 and has done it again in 2020. He hasn’t fallen to a teammate since 2016 when Nico Rosberg won the world championship over him by just five points.

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