Why Carlos Sainz praised Sergio Perez after 17th place finish at Mexico City Grand Prix

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Sergio Perez has, by his own admission, had a terrible season in 2024. But finishing 17th at the Mexico City Grand Prix, his home race, may have been uniquely painful.

The Mexican fans have their own chant for Perez and they greeted him with audible cheers in every session, be it practice, qualifying or race. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to get excited about in the meaningful sessions.

Perez suffered a Q1 exit on Saturday – the fifth time this season he’s been eliminated at the first hurdle. He made an excellent start, climbing to 12th, but he’d had an unfair advantage.

The 34-year-old was too far forward in his grid box, making a five-second penalty inevitable. After he sustained damage in a clash with Liam Lawson – the driver intent on taking his seat for 2025 – he couldn’t make any further progress.

Red Bull called Perez into the pits late on in an attempt to prevent any of Max Verstappen’s rivals taking the fastest lap. That was unsuccessful, with Charles Leclerc outpacing the hampered Mexican.

He was the last classified finisher, a year on from crashing out of the race at the first corner. He’d scored a podium on his first two visits to the venue with Red Bull in 2021 and 2022.

Carlos Sainz hails ‘gentleman’ Sergio Perez after Mexican Grand Prix woes

While Perez would have been devastated by the outcome, he still found time to congratulate Carlos Sainz in the media pen. Sainz won the race in superb fashion ahead of Lando Norris and Leclerc.

The two drivers recently collided at the end of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, ending both of their races. But they clearly maintain a warm relationship.

As reported by Fox Sports Mexico, Perez interrupted Sainz’s interview to ‘hug him and congratulate him’. Afterwards, the Ferrari driver told the press that he had been ‘a gentleman as always’.

The 30-year-old has also had a difficult season, but for different reasons. Ferrari announced in February that they were letting him go to sign Lewis Hamilton, even though he’s performed well since joining the team in 2021.

Andrew Benson predicts whether Sergio Perez will complete 2024 season with Red Bull

While he may publicly say otherwise, Perez knows this may be his last visit to the Mexico City GP as an F1 driver. Lawson is in pole position to partner Max Verstappen, and there are hardly any seats available elsewhere.

Sauber have been linked with Perez but their search seems to have shifted. Optically, Audi may not want to sign a driver whose reputation has suffered so much in the past couple of years.

It looks unlikely that he’ll drop down to RB as others have done, because the team have promising young talent in the pipeline. Helmut Marko could also pursue Franco Colapinto, the emerging Williams star, and place him at the junior team.

Andrew Benson still expects Perez to finish the season despite his woeful results. Having fallen to third in the standings, Red Bull may feel they can’t recover so late in the campaign.