As the Mexico City Grand Prix approaches on Sunday (9:00 p.m.), the penultimate of the season, two small points separate the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (267) from Pérez (265), Max Verstappen’s teammate already crowned world champion for the second consecutive year.
“Without a doubt, I prefer to win in Mexico because it’s been a dream since I was a child while finishing as vice-world champion has never been my dream”, explained bluntly “Checo”, diminutive of Sergio in Mexico, during a press conference in Mexico City on Wednesday.
“I hope to win. I’m coming for this and I have the opportunity to do it. We hope everything will go well,” added the native of Guadalajara (west).
The pilot nevertheless expects a complicated race due to the altitude, the Mexican capital culminating at 2,240 meters.
“The altitude factor is going to play a very important role: the brakes, the engines, everything is going to be pushed to the limit and it’s a very complicated track,” he said of the circuit. Autodrome Hermanos Rodríguez (4.3 km).
– Fight for the title in 2023 –
His Red Bull team scored twice this season by also winning the constructors’ world championship (the 5th in its history), ending a raid of eight consecutive titles for rival Mercedes.
Pérez sees this as the start of a fierce battle between the giants of the paddock, Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari.
“It would be amazing to be able to start an era of Red Bull dominance. The team is very strong, but the competition is always stronger with Mercedes and Ferrari who are also very strong and competitive teams and it’s not going to be easy, far from it,” he noted.
On a personal level, “Checo” Pérez still has two years of contract with Red Bull, which he intends to use to seek a title of world champion for drivers.
“For me, it is very important to finish (this season) very strong to attack the next one with all the assets, and this from the start, and to fight for the title all year long”, warned the Mexican, who considers that the adjustments to his car in the first part of the season prevented him from getting involved in the title race.
– “Minister of the attack” –
Aged 32, Pérez is having the best of his twelve seasons in Formula 1, and says he is very grateful for the unconditional support of his fans in his country, support which, he qualifies, he lacks on the international scene.
“When I have a good race, we don’t talk about it as much as if I were a European driver, and when I have a bad race, we talk about it more”, estimated the pilot, who often appears poorly classified in the opinion polls on the queen discipline of motorsport.
“Honestly, 99% of these polls go over my head. I’m in Formula 1 for my own reasons and what the different teams, the media, or whoever thinks of it, I don’t care, I I’m focused on giving 100% to my team.”
Even if it means trying to shake up the hierarchy in place within Red Bull from 2023.
Nicknamed “the Minister of Defense”, in reference to his role in protecting his leader Max Verstappen during the conquest of the Dutchman’s first title in 2021, against the Briton Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Pérez reminded anyone who wanted to to hear that he liked “better to attack than to defend”.
“I would prefer to be the minister of attack,” he hammered. That’s Verstappen warned.
