Home hero Sergio Perez is the poster boy of the Mexican Grand Prix but faces an uncertain future with Red Bull and in Formula 1 as the end of ‘a terrible season’ nears
Home hero Sergio Perez is the poster boy of the Mexican Grand Prix but faces an uncertain future with Red Bull and in Formula 1 as the end of ‘a terrible season’ nears Home hero Sergio Perez is the poster boy of the Mexican Grand Prix but faces an uncertain future with Red Bull and in Formula 1 as the end of ‘a terrible season’ nears
Mexican Grand Prix bosses insist they still want to keep their place on the Formula 1 grid – even if star asset Sergio Perez is axed.
The 34-year-old has had, by his own admission, “a terrible year” and is fighting for his future with Red Bull despite signing a new contract in June. Though he survived the axe during the summer break, Perez’s form has not improved in a noticeable way and a strong start at sister team VCARB by rookie Liam Lawson will only increase the pressure.
Should Red Bull promote Lawson into his seat, then Mirror Sport understands it will be a clean break and Perez will not race for the sister team. He would therefore not have a place on the 2025 grid, assuming the vacancy at Sauber is filled by then, and so his F1 future would be, at best, uncertain.
Nevertheless, organisers want to continue to stage an annual race at Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez – with or without the fans’ favourite. “We are fairly optimistic that we are going to have a race for many, many years,” said the event’s president Alejandro Soberon.
The Mexico City race has one of the shortest contracts of all the events on the current F1 calendar. The current deal will expire after next year’s race, though it is understood that the sport’s bosses want to continue to have six races across North and South America going forward.
Interest from locals is no doubt boosted by Perez’s presence – around 400,000 are expected to come through the gates across this weekend’s event. It remains to be seen how that would be affected should F1’s only current Mexican driver lose his place on the grid.
Soberon fancies his chances of securing a contract extension for the race even in such a circumstance. He said: “I would say I am not that sure that [Perez] is approaching to the end of his career – he is a great driver having a difficult season, many reasons could be behind that and it is not for me to talk about that.
Sergio Perez’s presence on the grid and race wins with Red Bull have boosted F1’s popularity in Mexico
(
Image:
Getty Images)
“What I can tell you is the Mexican crowd, the fandom, is very strong for F1 in general. Obviously Checo is a great enhancement for this, but Mexico has been very close to the heart of F1. We have a much better show on track today to what we had five years ago.
“I think competition and quality of the spectacle at the track is going to be enough to sustain the interest of the crowd, so as a promoter of the race we are very excited about trying to figure out a way to extend our contract, regardless of Checo.
“We have no more capacity. We could have drawn 600,000 [fans] – if we had unlimited capacity we could have another 200,000 here, but we cannot put them [anywhere]. That is why it sold out so fast in one year in advance. Probably, without Checo, maybe a drop of 20, 25 percent, naturally, [but it] still would be a sell-out.”
Learn more
Catch all the action from Formula One on Sky Sports and get exclusive access to races, qualifying and much more for every Grand Prix. From Max Verstappen to Lewis Hamilton, you won’t miss a lap on Sky Sports.
Mirror – Sport
