By james art
JENNA FRYER Associated Press
MEXICO CITY — Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. took his first pole of the season at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez and Sergio Perez’s miserable season in Formula One continued on Saturday when he failed to make it out of the first round of qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix.
“Very happy and great few laps, a lot of times around Mexico you always feel like you can’t put a lap together and it’s extremely difficult,” Sainz said. “Honestly, my two laps were almost identical, almost perfect. I’m very happy because that’s not usually the case in Mexico, as hard as it is.”
Three-time defending champion Max Verstappen, who had an engine change on Saturday, qualified second for Red Bull. Verstappen is a five-time winner in Mexico City.
McLaren’s Lando Norris, chasing Verstappen for the drivers’ championship, finished third and was followed by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who won last week’s US Grand Prix.
Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth and sixth, with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen seventh. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Williams’ Alex Albon and Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg round out the top 10.
But the focus in Mexico City is on Perez, who is under intense pressure to keep his place at Red Bull after signing a contract extension in June.
His poor form this season – he is without a win for the first time since joining the team in 2021, is eighth in the drivers’ standings and has crashed three times – has played a part in McLaren overtaking Red Bull for the lead in the race for constructors’ championship.
Perez was visibly annoyed after his poor effort in qualifying and said his car was not performing to his liking.
“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 a grip, that’s the main problem. We see the problem and we know what the problem is that we have, it doesn’t have a quick fix.”
He will start 18th on Sunday at a circuit known for being difficult to pass and where he crashed on the first lap last year. He said his strategy for the race was recovery.
“Get some points and minimize the damage, that’s the best we can do,” he said. “It’s a long race where anything can happen, we’ll give it our all.” This is the weekend where I want to do my best, but unfortunately we couldn’t achieve that.”
Although team boss Christian Horner insisted repeatedly 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 Cecco,” Horner said Friday. “We know what he’s capable of and hopefully we can give him the set-up and confidence in the car to get the kind of performance we know he’s very capable of.
“Checo is our pilot. He’s under contract until 2025. He’s competitive. He is hungry. Not happy with where he is right now. So as a team we’re doing everything we can to support him,” continued Horner. “Obviously a big weekend for him here, huge support.”
But he failed in qualifying, which bodes ill for Sunday, when he is due to perform. And it’s puzzling for Red Bull considering Verstappen qualified second just a day after suffering massive engine problems.
Red Bull changed the power unit ahead of Saturday’s final practice and qualifying after the Dutchman complained of “no power”.
To avoid punishment from the grid, Red Bull removed an old engine from its pool. He will probably get a new engine before the next race in Brazil, where he will receive a grid penalty, but passing is not as difficult as it is in Mexico City.
Verstappen is likely to be aggressive on Sunday in an attempt to take the lead from Sainz at the start. He had a decent final practice after the engine change, but is not sure what his Red Bull has in store for the race.
“Yesterday I hardly did a single lap, so I played a lot of catch-up,” Verstappen said. “I was already under a lot of pressure to have a good qualification. But I was very happy to be in the front row.”
Oscar Piastri, who was fastest in Saturday’s third practice, did not advance from the first round. Yuki Tsunoda, who is one of many drivers hoping to replace Perez at Red Bull, crashed in the second qualifying round.