By Andrew Benson.
Sergio Perez was caught between defiance and regret after the Mexico City Grand Prix, much as he has been for a large part of this Formula 1 season.
Defiant because, he insisted, he was absolutely right to try for a risky move around the outside of his Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in a bold attempt to grab the lead at the first corner. Regret because the move did not come off. He collided with Leclerc, and his home race was over after just one lap.
Defiance in the big picture, because Perez continues to insist that the “results will come”, even as they continue not to.
Regret because a brief but illusory appearance of a challenge to Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen for the title has degenerated into a downward spiral out of which Perez seems incapable of dragging himself. And that has led to increasing pressure as questions swirl about his future at the team.
How it all went wrong
Until he turned his Red Bull into Leclerc’s Ferrari at Turn One, Perez’s home race had been going well. His pace was more than respectable – a lap just 0.19 seconds off Verstappen in qualifying put him fifth on the grid, just two places down on the world champion – and his getaway was electric.
Perez generates something close to fervour among the Mexican fans, and on Sunday 135,000 had turned up to cheer him on, many crammed into the Foro Sol baseball stadium which hosts the fiddly final part of the lap.
Only the most optimistic of them will have been expecting a home win – Verstappen has been so dominant for so long that the prospect of Perez beating him seems remote in the extreme, no matter how close he might be on the grid.
They stuck around to the end, despite Perez’s retirement, to have the chance, it seemed, to boo Leclerc for his involvement in the collision.
In truth, Leclerc was blameless, and everyone who was not a fan of Perez knew it. Even Perez couldn’t bring himself to blame the Ferrari driver.
“The gap was there,” Perez said. “I tried to go for the win at my home grand prix. What else could I have done? I went for the gap. I risked it too much, but I wanted the win today.
“I just wanted to give it all, went for it totally. To end the race on the first lap at your home grand prix is definitely really sad. On the other hand, I’m extremely proud of myself because I gave it my all.”
Standing in the cool-down room before the podium ceremony, Lewis Hamilton watched the first-corner crash and knew immediately who was to blame.
“Where’s he going?” Hamilton said as Perez turned in, with Leclerc and Verstappen packed tight on his inside. A swear word. “He did me in Qatar,” Hamilton said.
That was a reference to Hamilton’s own similarly ill-judged move three races ago, when he collided with his team-mate George Russell at the first corner, also turning in too tight from the outside line. After that race, Hamilton accepted total blame.
As for Verstappen, he was as polite as he could be, but he, too, could not miss the obvious.
“I understand,” Verstappen said, “because it’s his home grand prix, he wants to be on the podium and I fully understand he went around the outside and tried.
“Looking at the footage, he could have left a little bit more space. But if it would have worked, you look amazing. It was more the excitement of trying to get on the podium. This time it didn’t work out, unfortunately.”
For Perez, it not working out has become the theme of his season, and it has brought with it unwanted pressure, because at Red Bull high performance is expected, and if it doesn’t come, patience tends to be short.