Why the 2020 F1 season is crucial for Perez

According to legend, an ancient prophecy dictated that Mexico's indigenous people should build a great city where they saw an eagle perched on a cactus, devouring a snake.

This location - on an island in a lake situated at an altitude of 7,300 feet - was where, 700 years ago, the ancient city of Tenochtitlan was founded. Modern-day Mexico City now occupies that site. The story of the eagle and the serpent is enshrined in the centre of the country's flag, which is currently being unfurled by Sergio 'Checo' Perez.

As he proudly holds the large Mexican bandera, he is surrounded by a phalanx of TV camera crews and photographers. Standing next to a Racing Point show car in the heart of Mexico City, Perez is inundated with requests from fans for autographs and selfies.

Wherever he goes, the masses gravitate towards their hero, making any movement slow-going. But the 29-year old isn't daunted. He dutifully obliges his adoring public, smiling for pictures and anointing their caps with his signature. The build-up to the Mexican Grand Prix is unlike any other for this local racer.

It's early morning on the Wednesday before the action begins at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. The location for Perez's first public appearance is outside the Plaza Carso shopping mall in Polanco, an upmarket district of the sprawling capital of the United Mexican States.

The bustling city is already awake with office workers, street vendors and food retailers going about their business. The thin air is filled with the heady mix of tacos and exhaust fumes, accompanied by a regular soundtrack of sirens and car horns.

The greater metropolitan area of Mexico City is home to more than 20 million people, making it the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world. But like any major hub, particularly in a developing nation, the wealth of office blocks is accompanied by poverty. On main roads, small children hold out begging bowls.

Around the corner from the impoverished is an extraordinary display of wealth. As the early morning sun glints off the two office-block skyscrapers above the shopping mall, they cast shadows over an unusually sculpted silver edifice. This is one of the city's 185 museums and it houses one of the world's largest private art collections. Inside, works include Rodin sculptures and pieces from Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci.
 In total there are over 60,000 items from centuries of history, both from the Latin and Western worlds.

Back in January 2015, Perez was inside this structure taking the covers off the VJM08, Force India's challenger that season.

The sponsors on the car then, and on his current Racing Point machine, have largely remained the same. Mexican telecommunications brands Claro, Infinitum, Telcel and Telmex are intrinsically linked to the owners of the buildings he's visiting today.

The Soumaya museum is named after the late wife of the man who owns the priceless collection and whose company built the Plaza Carso complex next door. He also happens to be the eighth richest man in the world, with a personal fortune of $60 billion.

While Checo is addressing the media and holding the nation's flag, the son of the wealthy businessman, one Carlos Slim Jr, is waiting for his star driver on a roof terrace above the shopping centre.

Carlos Slim's vast fortune developed in the 1990s when the Mexican government started to privatise its industries. Through Telmex, Slim acquired the telecommunications business.

Today he owns 90% of the industry and six years ago was listed by Forbes as the richest man in the world. His son, Carlos Jr, is a motor racing fan and has been a long-time financial supporter of Perez, as the Telmex-liveried Formula BMW and F3 cars of his early career attest.

After Perez finishes addressing the local media, he leaves the temporarily erected stage and enters the shopping mall, quickly followed by an entourage of photographers, fans, personal assistants and members of the Racing Point PR team. Ascending the lift, he emerges on a roof terrace where a small five-a-side football pitch has been built.

The shirts worn by Perez and his fellow players feature the logo of a Carlos Slim-backed foundation that has been established to help children off the streets and into soccer camps, showing there is a philanthropic side to one of the world's richest families.

However, as Checo takes to the field in a competition where Blue (Azul) play White (Blanco) there is no sign of any street children today.

Half of the players have 'Slim' on the back of their shirts as various family members get to play against racing drivers (Haas tester Pietro Fittipaldi and F2 racer Tatiana Calderon are also on the field) and famous Mexican footballers, including the flamboyant former goalkeeper Jorge Campos.

Perez doesn't spend long in action, but does mark his prowess with a neat little back heel to put the Azul a goal up.

His time on the pitch is limited because the clock is ticking down to another round of media appearances, this time in a makeshift tent (adorned with sponsor brands) with outlets that include F1 Racing.

Although this is Perez's home race, he's not from Mexico City.
 He was born, and still has a home, in Guadalajara, some 340 miles to the west - towards the Pacific coast. He will remain there during the Americas leg of the season,
and in the winter, but in the summer months he commutes to races from either Madrid or his other home in Switzerland.

Perez is about to turn 30 and admits it's a significant milestone in his life. His second child was born a little over a month ago, and he recently signed a contract which could arguably be the last and most significant deal of his career.

In the summer it was revealed the Mexican had signed a new three-year contract to stay with Racing Point until the end of 2022.

It makes him the only driver currently racing to commit to a team through the transition to the new regulations (in 2021) - although his team-mate Lance Stroll is also likely to remain with the team since his father is one of the owners.

At the end of his current deal, Perez will have raced with the Silverstone-based outfit for nine seasons. It's a relationship based on mutual respect, and he has been a key figure in the team, triggering the administration process last year that ultimately ended Vijay Mallya's ownership and enabled Lawrence Stroll to take up the reins.

"I am happy about it because I can see this team has big potential," says Sergio when quizzed about committing to another three years at the outfit.

"I really believe in the plans we have for the coming years. I think this year - as expected - has been a bit of a transition. It's only a little over a year [ago] that the new owners came in.

"It's a massive opportunity for me to grow together for the future and there is a big change in rules coming up, so hopefully this team can be in a place to maximise that."

After two successive years where Racing Point (then as Force India) finished fourth in the constructors' standings (in 2016 and '17) this year has been a struggle as the team has raced with a car built in the financial window of last year's administration.

But as the new owners have started to invest in both the infrastructure and the car, progress has been obvious - particularly in the second half of the season.

In addition, as revealed by F1 Racing earlier this year, Racing Point plans a new $30 million state-of-the-art factory following the purchase of land around the team's current facility. Staffing levels at the organisation are now over 400 (split across two premises) and it hopes to increase recruitment significantly within the next two years.

"I've always said, if you cannot be in a Ferrari or a Mercedes, Racing Point is a fantastic place to be," Perez adds.

"I've been there a long time and I've seen the windtunnel figures for next year and they look very good. It's looking like it will be a very promising year, but we have a couple of races to go this season. We are fighting for very important championship points in the constructors' [battle] - so we just have to give it our all."

The current regulations end next year and a new set of rules, aimed at reducing the gap between the top teams and midfield teams (such as Racing Point), will arrive in 2021 along with a cost cap - that's why the investment is taking place back at base right now. Perez believes that will be the chance to make further progress with Racing Point.

"I think what the team is doing at its factory, how hard everyone is pushing and the investment that is in place, means it will be a massive opportunity.

"More than that, I wanted a project that motivated me. I'm 30 next year, so I have a big season ahead.

"I'm aware that it's closer to the end [of my career] than the beginning. Years go by so quickly in this sport and we'll see what happens after these three years, whether it's my last or whether we carry on. It will really depend on if I'm enjoying it and am fully motivated.

"Now that I've got family to look after it's very important that I have a project that motivates me to leave home every weekend."

Checo has one final appearance to make, on a small kart track housed in the bottom floor of the mall. Chaos ensues once more as he edges through the pressing bodies of the crowd and heads for the lift - accidentally becoming estranged from his Racing Point press attache in the process.

A few minutes go by in which he is lost to the team, but a local aide has cleverly taken Perez to the kart track via an underground car parking lot to avoid detection.

When he arrives at the kart track he greets Carlos Slim Jr, who is already placing a helmet over his head to try his hand against a Formula 1 driver. There's no contest. Despite starting last, Checo shimmies through the field to emerge a comfortable victor.

Since the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez returned to the F1 calendar in 2015 this weekend has always been one freighted with expectations for Perez. For now, though, a podium finish remains unfinished business here: he's yet to finish higher than seventh on home ground. But, thanks to a contract extension for the event, he'll have further opportunities to try again.

"It's a race I wait all year long for and I actually base the success of my season on how well I do at this race," says Perez. "At every corner, wherever I'm on the track, I can see people cheering me on and that's something very special. I'm delighted that the organisers have agreed to continue hosting the race for another three years.

"Formula 1
 has grown a lot in Mexico and people enjoy it. It's important they have someone to cheer for and have a countryman there. For me, it was very important that the Mexican Grand Prix continued."

With that, Checo attempts to depart, but is once again cornered by well-wishers, friends and fans. As the sole representative of his country in F1, he's the one man everyone wants to be with.