Perez offers excuse for F1 qualifying disappointment at Mexican Grand Prix

Sergio Perez finished a disappointing P5 in qualifying for Sunday's Mexico City Grand Prix despite harbouring hopes of providing the fervent home supporters with some cheer after a difficult season for the popular Red Bull driver.

After splitting the first four race victories between them, Max Verstappen has run away with the 2023 F1 world championship and Perez has been left languishing in his wake.

The Mexican has arguably underperformed despite sitting in second place in the championship, such has been the superiority of the RB19 this season.

At the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, there is a chance for Perez to put all of that behind him and achieve what would no doubt be the biggest race victory of his career to date in his home city.

The disappointing qualifying performance, though, will make that harder for him and he was certain he knew why he underperformed in the final session of qualifying on Saturday.

"We were not expecting this," he admitted to Spanish TV broadcaster DAZN. "Using these tyres in Q2 probably played against us.

"Starting with used tyres decreased our progression. Those two tenths of a second could have put us on the front row."

Can Perez deliver for the Mexican supporters?

Perez will have to deliver a barnstorming performance and perhaps hope for a bit of luck if he is to better the third-placed finish he has managed in each of the last two years, after a Ferrari front row lockout and with Max Verstappen and Red Bull sister team driver Daniel Ricciardo also qualifying in front of him for Sunday's showdown.

Perez is keen to deliver for the fans and apologised for not being able to deliver a better qualifying performance.

"My performance in Q3 wasn't good," he admitted to Canal+. "I first used run-in tyres and then I made a mistake in my second attempt.

"I should have been on the front row. I'd like to thank my fans, their support since the start of the weekend has been exceptional."

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A post shared by Checo Pérez (@schecoperez)

In a social media post after the session, Perez made clear his target for the race as he wrote: "Tomorrow, we’re going all out for the podium."

READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE: Verstappen setup quirk which allows Red Bull to make car even faster

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