Chestappen Married Era

Sergio Perez & Valtteri Bottas on Hot Ones Versus

+ a bonus Graeme Lowdon

One year ago it was announced that Max and Checo had won the MTV MIAW “Couple Goals” award! They won over actual real life couples, and would go on to receive the award in person during the annual football game organized by Escuderia Telmex during the Mexico GP week.

Checo's Players' Tribune article:

But let’s just say that I stayed online. One day I got through to a guy named Günther Unterreitmeier, who ran a small team in German Formula BMW. His English was almost as bad as mine, but thanks to a friend of mine who spoke German, I understood that he was offering me a very cheap proposal. So, of course, I accepted. I wasn’t just on a small budget — I had no budget. 

I was in heaven. Finally I had a gateway to Europe.

Now I justhad to convince Carlos…. 

I was very lucky. I had known Carlos Slim, the man himself, since I was a little boy, thanks to my dad and his work for Adrián Fernández. Carlos was also the guy behind Escudería Telmex, so he had always been very important to me. But getting him to send me to Europe was a different story. He hadn’t gotten rich by throwing away his money, and he had absolutely no plans to send a 14-year-old kid to another part of the world. I didn’t really like to ask him about it either, but I just wanted it so badly. So I kept going to him like, “Oh, please, pleeeeease could you help me get to Europe?” 

Every time he would say the same things. 

“Son, it’s too early.” 

“We don’t need to go to Europe.”

“The U.S. is great.”

“Let’s wait a bit.”

Blah, blah, blah. 

Every time I would disagree. 

When I got the offer from Günther, I called Carlos again. Did he listen to me? Naaaah. Not really. Hahaha. The only reason he gave in, I think, was that he saw a kid who just wanted it so much. I was desperate. I was willing to do anything. In the end he probably got so tired of me that he actually saw the value in sending me off to a different continent.

My family was ecstatic. Soon we were driving down to Toluca with a one-way ticket to Munich. I couldn’t sleep on the plane. I was imagining how I would hang out with all these great drivers. We were going to have so much fun. 

When I landed, I met Günther for the first time. I almost asked him, “Sooooo, where are all the drivers?” We drove for about 40 minutes to where I was going to live. As I looked out the window, I noticed that the places were getting smaller and smaller. The colors were getting greener and greener. Soon I was like, What? There are not even houses here?! 

We got off in a tiny village. This was my new home. 

Fields. Trees. Tractors. 

I was completely shocked. 

Nobody had explained to me that I would be living like this. You have to understand how hard this was for me. I was used to Guadalajara, a city with 1.5 million people. I was at my happiest when I was hanging out with my friends, like any other Mexican kid. I’m Latin, so I’m very close to my family. I need people around me. 

Now I was checking into this hotel, which was known as the place where all the truck drivers would stop. I was alone. I had nothing to do. Calling home was too expensive. I had my friends on the old messenger, but no Internet. Even if I met people, I spoke no German and very bad English. My only friend was Günther, who I saw only on the weekend. The rest of the week I’d be killing time in the gym. 

After three days I was already going mad. 

A month later, when the winter testing was done, I made my first trip back to Mexico. I can’t tell you how amazing it was to see everybody again. When I boarded the plane back to Germany, I didn’t want to go. I did it because it was an amazing opportunity for me, but I wasn’t happy. 

I stayed at the hotel for three months. It was really, really tough.

Thankfully, I managed to get out. One day Günther opened a restaurant and told me I could live in a flat above it. I was like, Surely it has to be better than the hotel? 

Well, it was. At least I was seeing people there, you know? Since I was not going to school in Germany, I slipped into the role as the chef’s assistant. Not bad for someone who had never liked to cook. And actually, I enjoyed it a lot. Compared to the hotel, the restaurant felt like paradise. 

Over the next few years everything went so fast. When I was 17, I moved to Oxford to race in British Formula Three. Two years later I was doing well in the GP2 series. 

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