No doubt for Mexican driver Sergio Pérez (Red Bull): between winning the Mexico City Grand Prix or finishing second in the Formula 1 championship at the end of the 2022 season…
No doubt for Mexican driver Sergio Pérez (Red Bull): between winning the Mexico City Grand Prix or finishing second in the Formula 1 championship at the end of the 2022 season, he chooses victory in front of his home crowd.
As the Mexico City Grand Prix approaches on Sunday (21:00), the penultimate of the season, two small points separate Monegasque Charles Leclerc (267) from Pérez (265), Max Verstappen’s team-mate now crowned world champion for the second time in a row. year.
“Without a doubt, I’d rather win in Mexico City because it’s been a dream since I was a kid, while finishing as world champion has never been my dream,” bluntly explained “Checo”, the diminutive of Sergio in Mexico, during a the press. conference in Mexico City on Wednesday.
“I hope to win. I come for this and I can do it. We hope everything goes well,” added the native of Guadalajara (west).
The pilot, however, expects a complicated race due to the altitude, the Mexican capital culminating at 2,240 meters.
“The height factor will play a very important role: the brakes, the engines, everything will be pushed to the limit and it’s a very complicated layout,” he said of the circuit. Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez (4.3 km).
Fight for the title in 2023
His Red Bull team scored twice this season while also winning the constructors’ world championship (5th in its history), ending a run of eight consecutive titles for rivals 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 incredible to be able to start an era of Red Bull dominance. The team is very solid, but the competition is always stronger with Mercedes and Ferrari, which are also very strong and competitive teams, and it will not be easy, far from it,” he stressed.
On a personal level, “Checo” Pérez still has two years left on his contract with Red Bull, which he intends to use to claim the World Drivers’ Championship title.
“For me it is very important to finish (this season) very strong to attack the next season with all the means and this from the beginning and to fight for the title throughout the year”, warned the Mexican, who considers that. Adjustments to his car in the first part of the season prevented him from being involved in the title race.
“Minister of Attack”
At 32, Pérez is enjoying the best of his twelve seasons in Formula 1 and says he is very grateful for the unconditional support of his fans back home, which he says he lacks on stage. international.
“When I have a good race, we don’t talk about it as if I were a European pilot, and when I have a bad race, we talk more about it,” said the pilot, who often appears poorly classified. opinion polls on the royal discipline of motorsport.
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“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 anyone else thinks, I don’t care, I’m focused on giving 100% for my team.
Even if it means trying to shake up the hierarchy in place within Red Bull from 2023.
Nicknamed “The Minister of Defence”, in reference to his role in defending his leader Max Verstappen during the Dutchman’s first title conquest in 2021 against Briton Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Pérez reminded anyone who would listen that he liked “Better to attack than to defend”.
“I would prefer to be minister of attack,” he said. So warned Verstappen.
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Mexican Red Bull driver Sergio Pérez during a press conference in Mexico City on October 26, 2022, ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday.
• ALFREDO STAR
