Sergio Perez’s Formula 1 confidence crisis hit a new low with a Q1 elimination at his home grand prix.
It is the worst time for Perez, who will start the Mexican Grand Prix in 18th, to suffer the most bitter disappointment yet in a self-described “terrible season”.
Red Bull is into the crunch final races to decide its 2025 driver line-ups, as Perez got a reprieve for the second half of the current season after Red Bull flirted with dropping him in the summer break – despite Perez having a contract until the end of 2026.
His form has been unconvincing since the season resumed in August, with a much more competitive Azerbaijan weekend now looking like a grand exception, and he has so far followed up a disappointing United States Grand Prix with a troubled run on home soil.
WHY HE'S 18TH ON THE GRID
Perez didn’t have an upgraded Red Bull floor in the US and is missing some of it in Mexico too, but that doesn’t explain a Q1 exit with a lap eight tenths of a second slower than team-mate Max Verstappen, who has once again qualified on the front row.
Afterwards, Perez said he has been “struggling quite a bit with braking” and that this is an issue that’s existed “for the last three races, where I cannot stop the car”.
“Every time I tried to brake and attacked the braking, I put too much energy into the tyres and that makes it very tricky for me to stop the car,” he said.
“I’m having to modulate my braking quite a lot and that’s something we can see in the data but we are not able to fix it at the moment.”
Rather than an obvious technical or mechanical issue, it seems Perez’s confidence on the brakes has been sapped.
This was already evident at Austin, but the low-grip nature of Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez – and the 90-degree slow corners that make up the opening sector – will punish the feeling Perez describes even more.
Without full comfort and confidence on the brakes he cannot attack the braking zones without compromising his corner entry, through-corner speed and corner exit. The entry instability causes the rear to slide, which costs lap time and increases tyre temperature. This has a cost later around the lap, which is probably why most of Perez’s deficit came in the final sector.
“I just slide too much and given that it’s all surface sensitivity here, it makes it a lot harder,” Perez said.
LAWSON IMPRESSES AS TSUNODA BLOWS IT
While Perez suffered, the leading candidate to replace him had a quietly encouraging day as he continues to build his case for a 2025 promotion.
Liam Lawson was brought into the second RB team in place of Daniel Ricciardo to be evaluated for a seat at the top team next year.
Lawson started his audition with a charge into the points from 19th on the grid last week at Austin and has continued that with a good weekend at Mexico City, while his RB team-mate Yuki Tsunoda – the third Red Bull Racing 2025 candidate – cut a more visibly frustrated and disappointed figure after qualifying.
This is despite Lawson actually being outpaced by Tsunoda, who has been rapid in Mexico but fell foul of a small but costly misjudgement in qualifying. He had a front lock-up on the entry to the stadium section, then lost the rear and crashed into the wall.
That red flag left the drivers 11th and 12th, in Tsunoda’s favour, but prevented a likely double Q3 appearance for the team.
“It’s a shame,” said Lawson, who had expected a tough event learning another new circuit but had hauled himself more on less onto Tsunoda’s pace by Q2.
“We had a fast car all weekend, obviously Yuki’s been extremely strong in practice. We’ve been building up and I think we were right there in quali.
“He [Tsunoda] has been perfect honestly. It’s good to have a fast team-mate and be able to use his data and that’s what we’ve been doing all weekend. It’s been useful.
“Obviously having extra time this weekend has helped for sure, so just a shame we didn’t get to finish the lap.”
In Lawson’s favour is how close he seemed to be getting to Tsunoda’s pace despite lacking the team’s successful floor upgrade. He – and Red Bull – will know the worth of that development, which seems to be working well, and while Lawson doesn’t want to focus on his performance relative to having an upgrade or not, it is a relevant factor.
“I’m happy with where things are at,” he said. Which was an obvious contrast to Tsunoda. His downbeat demeanour afterwards seemed to reflect the high stakes situation these drivers are in, with every mistake magnified.
Tsunoda knew his speed, and his team’s typically strong pace at this track, makes this a missed opportunity in qualifying, even with the chance to make amends on Sunday.
And given Red Bull has doubts over his suitability for a top seat, that latest error may only feed into a narrative that Lawson is becoming Perez’s only threat for 2025.