MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Sergio Perez suffered a setback to his hopes of becoming the first Mexican Formula One driver to win his home grand prix when he qualified fourth on Saturday with Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen on pole position.
Double world champion Verstappen, chasing a record 14th win in a single season and a career fourth in Mexico, has the Mercedes pair of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton between him and Perez.
“It was a mess, a total mess. We had this electrical issue from the beginning,” Perez told reporters regarding the session at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
“If I look back at my quali, I was nearly knocked out (of the session) in Q1 and Q2 (the first and second phases). I had no reference to progress, I had no lap times. Sometimes I could not figure out where I was with my brake balance either.
“At the end I think P4 is not the worst but we could have been quite a lot higher than we were.”
Perez said he had a problem with the drag reduction system in the first phase, but it came back later and he was not worried for Sunday’s race.
“Obviously if there is a quali that you want to have everything perfect it’s this one,” said the Mexican, who finished third at home last year with Verstappen winning from third on the grid behind the two Mercedes.
Perez has won twice this season and Red Bull are chasing their ninth victory in a row and 16th of the season. The Mexican is third overall in the championship, two points behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
“I think there are a lot of things we can do for tomorrow so we will try our very best,” said Perez.
(Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios, writing by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ken Ferris)
