Sergio Perez admits peeing in F1 car BEFORE a race

Sergio Perez, Checo Perez, Red Bull, Abu Dhabi, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

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Sergio Perez admits peeing in F1 car BEFORE a race

When the race hadn't even started!?

Chris Deeley

Thursday 8 January 2026 09:44

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You can be an icon in your own country. You can enjoy the backing of a multi-multi-multi billionaire. You can be a dignified man in your 30s. Doesn't matter. F1 will find a way to humble you.

That humbling comes in different ways for every driver (see: the whole world finding out that Isack Hadjar's seatbelt was crushing his nads in a way you'd normally have to pay top dollar for), but Sergio Perez's might be most relatable for other racing drivers.

Filming an episode of Hot Ones Versus (a mild indignity in itself) with new team-mate Valtteri Bottas which was released this week, Perez admitted that he has – on at least one occasion – peed himself in the car.

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“Yes, I have. But it was before a race, not during. It was after the national anthem and there was no time. And it was before my mechanics strapped me in, so it was...a little bit embarrassing."

Perez not the only driver with a soiled race suit

A number of drivers have admitted in the past to doing the same – but more frequently late in a race, especially if a safety car is deployed, as happened to Lewis Hamilton in Singapore a few years ago.

The Brit also said in a 2016 interview that his Mercedes mechanics told him that Michael Schumacher 'peed every single time he was in the car' (given the infamous heat of an F1 cockpit, it's good to know that he might've boiled his own piss, not just that of his rivals).

All of that, however, is nothing compared to some NASCAR drivers. Tony Stewart famously won a race in 2004 despite suffering from a stomach bug which meant he was actually defecating in his race suit, while current champion Kyle Larson talked last year about a race in which he 'had a stomach bug going on...and had to relieve some pressure', adding 'I had a white suit, and I didn’t know what it looked like back there'.

Shane van Gisbergen said in a live interview just seconds after winning in Mexico City last year that he was 'pretty rubbish today, leaking out both holes' while Tyler Reddick was more direct on team radio during the race which wrapped up the 2024 regular season championship, saying simply: "Yeah I'm throwing up, sh***ing myself, all of it."

There we have it – F1 is definitely a fancier, more elegant sport than NASCAR...because the drivers only wet themselves.

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F1 Sergio Perez Cadillac Valtteri Bottas