10 years after Checo Pérez's first podium in Formula 1

At the start of his second season with Red Bull Racing, Sergio Pérez's career has to be traced back to March 25, 2012, the day when the Checo era was really born in Formula 1, because until before this date, the Mexican still went unnoticed in the top motorsport category.

It was at the Malaysian Grand Prix that Checo Pérez first stood on a podium and won the spotlight of motorsport, because he did so at an unexpected pace for the Sauber C31 who was driving and stalking Fernando Alonso for the victory.

Although it was his second season in Formula 1, the tapatio was classified as the rookie sensation after that race and the big teams began to focus on him, because in the eyes of specialists, what Sergio did entered a unique category.

In addition to returning the Mexican flag to a Formula 1 podium after 40 years, Checo returned Sauber to prominence under the BMW era, as they accumulated a couple of years without knowing positive results and accustomed to scratching some points.

At just 22 years old, Pérez put Ferrari's multi-champion Fernando Alonso in serious predicaments, and even the international broadcast predicted a breakthrough on the last laps of the race, but the ravages of the rain took its toll and Checo had a slight misconception, so the Spaniard had a window of time needed to end in the first position

The feat of the jaliscinese increases when it is taken into account that he started from ninth place, but a torrential rain caused chaos in the restart of the competition and placed third, above Webber, Vettel, Rosberg and even Alonso himself.

With extraordinary tyre handling, the Mexican Minister of Defense remained in second place since the 16th turn, behind only a colossal Fernando Alonso, as he had put Ferrari on top after the performance problems he had all weekend, which is why he started in eighth place.

After a halt of almost 50 minutes due to the enormous amount of water that fell on the circuit, the Grand Prix resumed on Lap 10 with a single grid order for Checo's young race: Hamilton was first with McLaren, Jenson Button was second, Perez third, Webber fourth and Alonso fifth.

Surrounded by experienced and winning riders, the race resumed and in less than 10 laps, the positions took a radical turn and the leaders were, almost alone, Fernando Alonso and Sergio Pérez, who started an epic battle for a victory in the second GP of the year.

The tapatio cut more than 8 seconds away with Alonso, to the point that he had the Spanish driver less than .400 seconds away, with better condition on the tires and better pace in the car, so the overrun and first place seemed like a matter of time.

Seven laps before, Checo bit a world champion like never before and fervently sought his first victory in Formula 1, so much so that from the pits they asked him to be more cautious, since the second position was extraordinary for his team.

Unfortunately for the Aztec fans, just six before the end of the race, Pérez touched the wet part of the track and left, opening the gap to five seconds with an Alonso who took a deep breath, as he ran out of options to maintain his position.

Because Hamilton was more than 10 seconds away, the slight error did not go higher and consolidated in second place, a result that won over the fans and the world of F1, because after another two podiums in the season, he made the leap to the historic McLaren team.

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