By Joiner Martínez
28 Oct 2023, 20:21 PM EDT
Ferrar’s Monegasque driver, Charles Leclerc, took pole position for the Mexico City Formula 1 Grand Prix, where local Sergio Pérez will start in fifth position.
“I didn’t expect to take pole. After the third training session I thought we were missing a lot. But now we are already on pole. We have to focus on the race to turn it into victory, although it will be very difficult,” was Leclerc’s confession.
Three-time world champion Max Verstappen, who had said on Thursday that the Red Bull car was not expected to be the best within one lap, confirmed his prediction by finishing in third position, behind the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.
Pérez, who in the two Mexican Grand Prix started in fourth position and finished on the podium and was only 0.160 thousandths behind Verstappen, which shows that he got almost 100 percent of what the car had, although he struggled in the third sector of the Hermanos Rodríguez Autódromo track.
“It is very difficult to pass here, we know that. The qualification was very important. The margins were very small and in the progression in Q3, having lost that new tire in Q2 put us on one foot behind and we did not progress enough. One or two tenths would have changed our lives today,” said the Mexican.
And he confessed: “It is a track that is quite slippery and with the temperature it rises a little. On a normal track you don’t feel it, but here one or two degrees change a lot and with very little grip.”
In seven editions that the Mexican driver has competed, Checo Pérez has two podiums and has finished in the points zone in all races except for 2018, the same year where he added his only retirement in front of his home crowd.
At Red Bull satisfied with Pérez
Helmut Marko, Red Bull Racing advisor, was satisfied with Sergio Pérez’s performance in Friday’s session of the Mexican Grand Prix, this after the Mexican placed in the top five in both practices.
Arko was pleased to see that the three days in the simulator that Pérez did after the Qatar Grand Prix are paying off, proving that he is closer to Verstappen.
“Normally he only goes to the simulator for one day, but now he was there for three days. Already in the second stint in Austin he made the same times as Max. Here, I think it has been a while since she was so close to Max in training,” said the Austrian advisor.
Keep reading:
Lewis Hamilton believes that Red Bull “is not helping at all” the Mexican Sergio “Checo” Pérez
Verstappen will have a bodyguard at the Mexican GP after threats from “Checo” Pérez fans
Checo Pérez on his relationship with Verstappen: “The media seems to want to create rivalries”