Sergio Perez suffers Mexico GP qualifying embarrassment as Carlos Sainz takes pole

The locals were cheering on Sergio Perez to pull off something special amid speculation over his Red Bull future but he faced stern competition for pole position at the Mexico GP

Mexican fans groaned as Sergio Perez wilted under the pressure in qualifying for his home race.

‘Checo’ is fighting for his Red Bull future but qualified way down in 18th on the grid last night. Team boss Christian Horner backed his man earlier this weekend but looked unimpressed as Perez suffered a new low.

Perez went out first to set out his stall but never looked like he had confidence in the Red Bull underneath him. His first run was almost two seconds slower than the initial time set by team-mate Max Verstappen and it didn’t get much better from there.

The Mexican did improve slightly on his final run of Q1 but it was good enough only to start today’s race down in 18th. And he was joined in the bottom five by Oscar Piastri as the second high-profile casualty of the early exchanges in qualifying.

“I just could not get on top of the car,” Perez said glumly. “I just could not stop the car soon enough. I was putting too much energy into the tyres while braking and that was the problem for me. If we are able to score some good points then it will be a tremendous effort – but it is going to be very difficult from the position we are in.”

Pressure on Red Bull to act will only increase with McLaren in pole position for the constructors’ title. Ferrari are only eight points behind them heading into today’s race and Horner’s team could leave Mexico City in third place – especially after Carlos Sainz took pole for the race.

Liam Lawson is Perez’s most likely replacement should the axe swing and followed up points on his second debut with sister team VCARB in Austin last weekend by bettering Perez to qualify 12th here. Yuki Tsunoda is less likely than Lawson to win the seat and did his chances no favours with a Q2 crash which brought out the red flags.

The Japanese will start the race one place higher than Lawson, though, while both will have Fernando Alonso on their tails as the Spaniard makes his 400th career F1 start. Verstappen was the only one of Red Bull’s four drivers still standing in the shootout for pole. His first attempt at pole was lightning fast and saw him shoot to the top of the timesheets – until that time was deleted for corner cutting.

Even if it had stood, it would not have been enough to stop Sainz who got a tow from team-mate Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari racer secured his first pole since the 2023 Singapore race from Verstappen, who recovered well on his final lap to secure a spot on the front row. Lando Norris was quickest in the middle sector but couldn’t find enough time through the tight stadium section and had to settle for starting right behind his title rival.

Leclerc will line up fourth on the grid while George Russell got the better of Lewis Hamilton in the battle of the Mercedes cars, fifth and sixth respectively. British-Thai racer Alex Albon will line up ninth for Williams.