F1 Driver Sergio Pérez Begins Electrical Powerboat Racing Staff

One in all Crimson Bull Racing’s F1 drivers is getting into the realm of crew possession. 12-season F1 veteran Sergio Pérez will enter a crew into the newly-created UIM E1 World Championship, an electrical powerboat racing sequence. Sergio Pérez’s Team Mexico will occupy one in every of 12 crew slots on the E1 grid, with each of the crew’s two yet-to-be-announced pilots hailing from Mexico.

Because the prefixed initialism implies, the UIM E1 World Championship is the primary electrical championship sanctioned by the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM), the world governing physique for powerboating. E1 will characteristic a subject of hydrofoiling single-seat race boats powered by a 150-kilowatt (roughly 200-horsepower) electrical outboard motor able to propelling the craft to speeds as much as 50 knots (round 58 mph).

The unique electric championship was co-founded by Alejandro Agag, who additionally co-founded the FIA Method E World Championship and Excessive E. Earlier than his time launching almost every electric racing championship under the sun, Agag was the proprietor and crew principal of the Barwa Addax crew in the GP2 Collection, a Method 1 feeder league. Sergio Pérez raced for Barwa Addax within the 2010 GP2 season, the place he completed runner-up within the championship and paved the way in which for his F1 debut with Sauber the subsequent yr.

In an announcement, Pérez mentioned:

Given my relationship with Alejandro [Agag], I’ve saved an in depth eye on what he’s been doing and his varied championships, and I feel what he’s achieved with selling extra sustainable types of motorsport is commendable. Seeing a racing crew flying the flag for Mexico on a world stage might be superb and I can not wait to look at the RaceBird in motion for the primary time. I’ve heard plenty of optimistic tales in regards to the boat and the thrilling sporting product E1 is attempting to create for followers with metropolis occasions.

Alejandro Agag added:

Me and Checo have remained shut pals since working collectively throughout our days in GP2, the place Checo drove for my crew. In a humorous method, it feels a bit like issues have come full circle, with me hiring him as a driver and now Sergio getting into a crew of his personal in E1.

Pérez isn’t the primary present or former Method 1 driver to turn out to be a crew proprietor in an Agag-created electrical racing sequence. Jarno Trulli fielded and drove for his personal crew within the inaugural 2014-15 season of the FIA Method E Championship. Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Nico Button all subject separate groups in Excessive E, an electrical off-road racing championship. Solely time will inform how profitable E1 and Staff Mexico might be.