Carlos Sainz Jr puts Ferrari on pole in Mexico City as Perez’s disappointing season continues

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. won his first pole of the season at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, while Sergio Perez unsuccessful Formula 1 season continued on Saturday when he failed to qualify from the first round of qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix.

“Very happy and great couple of laps. Often in Mexico you always have the feeling that you can’t do a lap together and it’s extremely difficult,” said Sainz. “To be honest, my two laps were almost identical, almost perfect. I’m very glad because in Mexico this doesn’t usually happen, no matter how difficult it is.”

Three-time defending champion Max Verstappenwho had his engine replaced on Saturday, qualified second for Red Bull. Verstappen is a five-time Mexico City winner.

McLaren’s Lando Norris, who is chasing Verstappen for the driver’s title, qualified third, followed by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who won the US Grand Prix last week.

Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth and sixth, while Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was seventh. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Williams’ Alex Albon and Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top ten.

But in Mexico City the focus is on Perez, who is under intense pressure to retain his place at Red Bull after signing. contract extension in June.

His poor performance this season (he lost for the first time since joining the team in 2021, sits eighth in the drivers’ standings and crashed three times) played a role in McLaren overtaking Red Bull to take the race lead. Constructors’ Championship race.

Perez was visibly annoyed by his poor qualifying attempt and said his car did not suit his tastes.

“It’s very bad, I have a lot of problems with the car slowing down, a lot of problems,” he said. “Every time I try to break through I don’t have enough grip, that’s the main problem. We see a problem and we know we have one, and there is no quick fix.”

He will start 18th on Sunday at a track that is notoriously difficult to navigate and where he crashed on the first lap last year. He said his strategy for the race is recovery.

“Scoring some points and minimizing the damage is the best we can do,” he said. “It’s a long race where anything can happen, we’re going to give it our all. I want to be the best I can this weekend, but unfortunately we weren’t able to achieve that.”

Although team principal Christian Horner insisted several times this weekend that Perez is under contract with Red Bull until 2025 (with an option for 2026), there are performance clauses that could cost Perez his place at the end of the season.

“I think he summed it up perfectly: It’s been a bad year for Checo,” Horner said Friday. “We know what he’s capable of and we hope we can give him the tune and confidence in the car so he can achieve the performance we know he’s very capable of.

“Cheko is our driver. He has a contract until 2025. He’s competitive. He’s hungry. He is not happy with where he is now. So as a team we are doing everything we can to support him,” Horner continued. “Obviously it’s a big weekend for him here, great support.”

But he failed in qualifying, which doesn’t bode well for Sunday when he needs to compete. And this is puzzling for Red Bull given that Verstappen qualified second just a day after suffering serious engine problems.

Red Bull changed the power unit ahead of Saturday’s final practice and qualifying after the Dutchman complained he had “no power”.

To avoid a grid penalty, Red Bull pulled an old engine from its fleet. He will likely get a new engine before the next race in Brazil, where he will receive a grid penalty, but overtaking is not as difficult as in Mexico City.

Verstappen is likely to be aggressive on Sunday, trying to take the lead from Sainz at the start. He did some decent final practice after the engine change, but isn’t sure what Red Bull is preparing him for the race.

“Yesterday I hardly completed a single lap, so I was playing a lot of catch-up,” Verstappen said. “I was already under a lot of pressure to qualify well. But I’m very glad to be in the front row.”

Oscar Piastri, who was fastest in the third practice session on Saturday, did not make it out of the first round. Yuki Tsunoda, one of many drivers hoping to replace Perez at Red Bull, crashed in the second qualifying round.

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