MEXICO CITY — Together with his son watching on, arms draped on the right-hand aspect of the rostrum on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Sergio Pérez soaked within the adulation of his dwelling followers.
Despite the fact that Max Verstappen had received the race for Crimson Bull, third-placed Pérez drew the group’s focus after scoring his first Mexican Grand Prix podium. Whereas it was his fifth podium of the 2021 season, it was the primary time a Mexican driver had achieved such a consequence at dwelling, making it a major consequence for each him and his nation.
Three years on, issues have modified dramatically.
Pérez stays the star in Mexico. This stays his weekend, his face adorning billboards all around the metropolis as manufacturers and sponsors look to money in on his stardom. Crimson Bull staff principal Christian Horner joked that Pérez was “endorsing each product from Uber Eats to rest room roll this weekend.”
However proper now, via a rotten run of type that has prompted him to hunch to eighth on this planet championship, one other podium end would carry much more weight for Pérez.
“I do know I’ve had a horrible season, a really troublesome one,” Pérez admitted on Thursday. “It began rather well, nevertheless it’s been actually, actually troublesome. If I get a powerful consequence, it could undoubtedly change my season massively by way of (my) private emotions.”
Pérez arrives in Mexico with out a podium end because the Chinese language Grand Prix in April. A season that began with a lot promise, with Crimson Bull wanting a step forward of its rivals, shortly unraveled as he struggled with the automobile. An absence of steadiness that robbed the drivers of confidence this 12 months solely bit Max Verstappen towards the top of the European season. It harm Pérez far earlier.
The ensuing downturn in type put Pérez’s future within the highlight. Crimson Bull noticed its early-year benefit ebb away as McLaren, aided by two high-scoring drivers in Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, reeled it in and finally overhauled it on the prime of the constructors’ championship. Whereas Verstappen has maintained a good buffer on the head of the drivers’ standings, Crimson Bull is now prone to additionally slipping behind Ferrari — solely eight factors behind — to P3. That might be its lowest constructors’ end since 2019.
Even forward of Mexico, Pérez felt the necessity to answer rumors that he would possibly announce his plan to retire from F1 altogether at his dwelling race. In the course of the three-week break after Singapore, he posted a video clip from “The Wolf of Wall Road” the place Leonardo di Caprio’s character, Jordan Belfort, confidently tells his workforce phrases to the extent of, “I’m not leaving.”
Sorry 😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/rPIHpYDVGH
— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) September 29, 2024
“I simply felt prefer it’s been yearly, for the final two years or so, that somebody creates this rumor after which everybody picks it up,” Pérez defined in Austin final week when requested concerning the submit. “All my followers, clearly I’m very aware that there are lots of people coming to assist me, to the Mexican Grand Prix, they usually in all probability could be anticipating one thing that’s not true.
“I felt the necessity to simply say, look, I believe it’s simply not appropriate to unfold rumors like this with out realizing the details.”
The frequency of these rumors is due to the scrutiny positioned on Pérez’s underperformance and future regardless of his being below contract for the following two seasons. His renewal was supposed to offer him stability at a time when his type was slipping, performing as an additional arm across the shoulder—proof that he had the staff’s assist.
It didn’t have the specified impact. Pérez nonetheless has not completed inside the highest 5 because the deal was introduced shortly earlier than the Canadian Grand Prix. He was in rivalry for the rostrum in Azerbaijan final month, just for a late conflict with Carlos Sainz to finish his race.
Pérez throughout apply on Friday in Mexico Metropolis. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Pictures)
On Friday, Horner agreed with Pérez’s evaluation that his season had been “horrible,” saying the Mexican had “summed it up completely.”
“It’s been a foul 12 months for Checo,” Horner mentioned. “He began strongly, and clearly, he struggled for type since Imola onwards. It’s been sporadic. We noticed flashes of efficiency. (In) Azerbaijan, arguably he may have received that race virtually a month in the past.
“We all know what he’s able to. We’re hoping we may give him the setup and confidence within the automobile to extract the type of performances we all know he’s able to.”
Verstappen’s deepening struggles over the summer season races indicated that Pérez was not solely in charge for his drop in type. The upgrades that arrived in Austin helped ease a few of Verstappen’s considerations, however Pérez — who certified ninth and completed solely seventh — didn’t have the total package deal. “We simply didn’t get an excellent weekend,” he mirrored in Mexico. “It wasn’t an excellent weekend the place I constructed plenty of confidence.”
Confidence is one thing that Crimson Bull has lengthy sought to try to re-instill in Pérez because it appears towards 2025. “Checo’s our driver,” Horner mentioned. “He’s contracted for 2025. He’s aggressive. He’s hungry. He’s not pleased with the place he at present is. So, as a staff, we’re doing our best to assist him.”
Horner was requested how Liam Lawson’s performances at RB would possibly impression the plan throughout the 2 Crimson Bull groups, given the hyperlinks for him to probably substitute Pérez in case of a change at Crimson Bull. Horner reiterated that Pérez “has a contract for subsequent 12 months, so he’s at present our driver for 2025.”
“There’s a seat accessible at RB, they usually’re all Crimson Bull racing drivers which might be on mortgage,” Horner mentioned. “We get pleasure from time to sit down down with Laurent (Mekies) and Peter (Bayer) and have a look at all of the choices.”
The fan adoration for Pérez in Mexico Metropolis is boundless. (Mark Thompson/Getty Pictures)
If there was one race of the remaining 5 the place the vitality of the occasion and the group may present an additional increase of vitality to gas Pérez, it’s Mexico. The depth of the race weekend is like nothing else he experiences in F1. He described it as being “like three races without delay.” The noise from the grandstands on his first outlap in the beginning of FP1 was better than most drivers will hear of their honor all season, such is the thrill of the 100,000-plus Mexicans who’re packed into the circuit, the bulk bursting into coloration and noise within the Foro Sol stadium part.
The calls for of racing at dwelling do make for a taxing week. But it takes nothing away from how particular the grand prix is for him. “I simply wish to take pleasure in it,” he mentioned in Austin. “That is my ninth grand prix in Mexico, so I simply wish to guarantee that I take pleasure in each single little bit of it, as a result of it’s an important one.”
The one noise Pérez needs to listen to this weekend is from the grandstands. The fixed hypothesis and discussions about his future? He’s not bothered. “You simply must be sure to maintain your head down, you concentrate on the stuff that you may management,” Pérez mentioned. “The remaining is one thing that you just can’t get bothered with.”
Ending his podium drought on dwelling soil can be an ideal approach for Pérez to dismiss a few of the query marks over his future at Crimson Bull. It will additionally give him the prospect for an additional priceless second, just like the one along with his son three years in the past.
“That second will stick with me without end, having my son up there with me on the rostrum, watching me,” Pérez mentioned. “It’s one thing that I hope he remembers without end. If not, I’ll have the image no less than to point out him when he’s older!
“These moments, I believe, are those that actually matter to me. And I hope I can repeat that this weekend.”
Remembering when Sergio Perez’s son acquired to see his father on the rostrum at his dwelling Grand Prix 💚🇲🇽
(by way of rsanchezp/IG) pic.twitter.com/tsFzL1JMHu
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) July 12, 2022
Prime photograph: Mark Thompson/Getty Pictures
