"Tears came to my eyes, I would have loved my father to see me": When Charles Leclerc called Sergio Perez after he won a race

Charles Leclerc of Ferrari once shared a heartwarming moment with fellow driver Sergio Perez shortly after the Mexican Grand Prix of 2021. This was the first race where a Mexican driver stood on the podium of their national race, making it an iconic moment for Perez and his family.

Red Bull Racing had signed Sergio Perez as their second driver in the 2021 F1 season. He was instrumental in helping Max Verstappen clinch his first World Championship, and remained a competitive driver for most of his stint with the team.

He finished the 2021 Mexican GP in third place. As mentioned, he became the first Mexican driver in Formula 1 history to clinch a podium in the race. Joining the celebrations were his fans and his parents, Antonio Pérez Garibay and Marilú Mendoza.

His father, Antonio Perez, recalled that Charles Leclerc, who finished fifth in the race, was one of the drivers to call Checo to congratulate him. As per Antonio, Leclerc mentioned that he teared up when he saw Perez's parents celebrating.

"Checo [Perez] received a call yesterday from Charles Leclerc and [he] said, 'Checo, you don't know how happy it made me to see your parents celebrate like that; tears came to my eyes, I would have loved my father to see me'," he said (via RacingNews365).

This was an emotional moment for Charles Leclerc, who lost his father back in 2017. He never had the chance to see his son race in Formula 1.

Leclerc has since been racing for Ferrari. While he did manage to clinch multiple victories and was a contender for the title, too, he has been struggling with the team's incompetent car this season.

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Charles Leclerc wants Ferrari to finish second in title run

As mentioned, Ferrari has been struggling with pace against its competitors. As McLaren dominates the grid, the Italian outfit sits in second place, albeit, in competition with Mercedes.

The latter has been closing up to Ferrari with every passing race. While finishing third in the championship will give Ferrari more time in the wind tunnel for next year's development, Charles Leclerc feels it would be best to finish as high as they can.

"I'm pretty sure it's better to finish second than third. However, as you said, there's also the wind tunnel time. This is not something we think of too much. When we are on track, we just want to finish as high up as possible and then we'll deal with whatever amount of hours in the wind tunnel we have," Leclerc said (via GPBlog).

Leclerc has scored 5 podiums in the season so far, meanwhile, his teammate Lewis Hamilton has scored P4 at best.