Checo Perez sues Pemex the payment of 2.8 million dollars

Sergio 'Checo' Pérez shows a Mexican flag in what will be his third GP in his country.

P.PARDO

Sergio 'Checo' Pérez demands from Pemex the payment of 58 million pesos, about 2.8 million dollars, for the early termination of his sponsorship contract that was signed in October 2018 and concluded in 2019. The sponsorship contract is about to name of MGI Asistencia Integral, the outsourcing company of the state oil company.

The Mexican pilot assures that the MGI company concluded in advance, and in bad faith, the contract that protected the sponsorship of the state oil company.

The 31-year-old pilot requested as a precautionary measure the assurance of MGI accounts for up to 58 million pesos, but the Ninth District Court in Civil Matters rejected the request.

According to local media, the sentence has not been published by the court, and it has already been appealed by both parties before a unitary court, so the process will still last for several months.

In February 2018, Pemex announced in style the start of its relationship as a sponsor with Checo Pérez.

The state company entered into the alliance with Shara Force India - now part of Racing Point -.

"The global appeal of sport provides an ideal place to increase our brand awareness and show our clients, investors and consumers, the strength of the brand that has entered a new market environment," said the oil company at the time in a release.

The agreement between the team and Pemex included the appearance of the parastatal logo on the car and on the drivers' suits.

The enthusiasm of the oil company disappeared at the start of the López Obrador government.

In 2019, the oil company argued that it had other budgeted priorities and stopped appearing among its sponsors when it presented the car and the uniform that it would run during that year for the Racing Point team.

Now the most indebted oil company in the world and which reported losses of 480,966 million pesos (22,995 million dollars) in 2020, it will have to face in court the decision to suddenly conclude the sponsorship contract.

In its most recent report, the Superior Audit Office of the Federation (ASF) identifies MGI Asistencia Integral as a Pemex outsourcing company that uses the oil company to outsource administrative and legal services at the Dos Bocas refinery, the most ambitious energy project in the country. López Obrador administration being built in Tabasco, in the southeast of the country.

The career of the Mexican pilot has had the support of businessman Carlos Slim.

The tycoon has been one of his main sponsors from the beginning of his career to his great achievements such as his victory last December when he won the Grand Prix of Sakhir (Bahrain).

After that victory, the Mexican driver got his signing for Red Bull.

Pérez has been through three different teams (McLaren, Sauber and Racing Point).

The driver has been on the Formula 1 podium 10 times: three second places (Malaysia and Italy in 2012 and Turkey in 2020) and six third places (Canada, in 2012; Bahrain in 2014; Russia, 2015; Monaco and Baku in 2016 and 2018).

Subscribe here

to the

of EL PAÍS México and receive all the informative keys of the current situation of this country