During the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend, the local audience crammed into the stands of the Hermanos Rodriguez racetrack relentlessly supporting their idol Sergio Perez, who then celebrated his third place on the podium after fighting for P2 with Lewis Hamilton until the end of the race. In addition to these images of Mexican sporting pride, television footage has repeatedly focused on the celebrations in the pits of Sergio Perez’s father, Antonio Perez Garibay, who of course was present with the family to support his son at this special event in front of the home fans.
Moments of pure joy and happiness which were noticed not only by the spectators, but also by other drivers who faced the Red Bull driver directly on track. Among these, there was also Charles Leclerc, as the Scuderia Ferrari driver expressed his emotions to see the images with Sergio Perez’s family celebrating the result. The Monegasque, immediately after the race, even phoned the Red Bull driver to express his emotions in having witnessed such scenes. A moment which was confirmed by Perez’s father, who was interviewed by Spanish national daily sport newspaper Marca: “
“Checo received a call from Charles – he said – who told him: “You don’t know how happy I was to see your parents celebrate like that; it brought tears to my eyes, I would have loved for my father to see me. But I didn’t know that Charles’ father had passed away and that Charles had spoken to Checo”
Hervé Leclerc, father of the now Ferrari driver, passed away in June 2017, and has always been Charles’ motivation in his Formula 1 career. This weekend showed that rivalries are only sporting.

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