Checo Pérez, Mexican driver of Red Bull, this Wednesday at Plaza Carso.Mario Guzmán (EFE)
What had started as the most hopeful season has turned into a bundle of doubts. Checo Pérez started his 13th year in Formula 1 with a turbo. He was fighting, with high tension, against Verstappen in the first five races. At the prestigious Monaco circuit, dreams of seeing a Mexican fight for the title hit the wall. A strong clash in the standings deprived the Mexican of continuing his battle with the now three-time world champion. He also lost his confidence, the car and his stability.
"It's been the toughest season at Red Bull. I started fighting for the championship and it's not easy. People will never understand what it's like to drive a car at more than 300 kilometers per hour and not feel comfortable, not knowing what the car will do on a curve. Only the pilot feels it. We had a great car, but a car that was getting harder and harder for me to get the most out of with the adjustments. That made it an up-and-down, fickle season. It's the most difficult season mentally. I always had doubts about the car," Perez admitted at a press conference on Wednesday.
The Slim family, one of the richest families in the world and patrons of the Mexican pilot, supported him at their facilities in Plaza Carso, in the commercial district of the Mexican capital. Perez was backed by an army of fans and thousands of publicity images in honor of the athlete of the moment. The Mexican Grand Prix, which starts this Friday, has become a week of absolute hustle and bustle for the Mexican driver who must fulfill commercial commitments with his partners. The Mexican's face was one of a smile overwhelmed by the day's agenda that included a press conference, a soccer game, another press conference and a party in honor of his tequila brand.
"It's definitely a tough weekend. It's the weekend I have the most load. I have a lot of Mexican sponsors, it's difficult to keep the balance. It's an intense day," said the Mexican. Amid the screams of his Czecholivers, Perez took a moment to reflect on his performance and the pressure at Red Bull: "For me the important thing is to focus on what I can control. At the end of the day, the team knows where I stand, at my level as a driver, what I can give. My energy is in what I can change." The Mexican's expectations are, first of all, to finish in the top five. Talking about a podium would be the best of the results.
Perez has two wins (Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan), four second places (Bahrain, Miami, Belgium and Italy) and two third places (Austria and Hungary). These are very valuable results that have led him to be in second place overall. However, he has been inconsistent in the last three races. At one point in the season, after what happened in Monaco, he couldn't make the cut in the qualifying rounds. At Red Bull they didn't understand how he could be eliminated and suffer with the best car on the grid. Pérez, as he has admitted on several occasions, has not been able to adapt to the car that has Max Verstappen, the central axis of the Austrian team, as his main priority.
In the face of the Mexican's hesitation aboard Red Bull, rumors were unleashed about a dismissal, retirement and a wave of criticism. The ones that stuck the most were those of the team's advisor, Helmut Marko, who raised the tone by calling him "lazy" for being "South American". "They're always going to talk, good or bad, the important thing is that you get noticed. Few pilots generate that. At the end of the day, it's part of the emotions that pilots generate towards their countries, their people. This will pass and we will keep the good memories of this," said the Mexican.
"After Qatar [where he finished tenth], we were working very hard in the factory for many days with the engineers. In Austin we couldn't show it," he said. Checo Pérez wants to take the slab off his back and celebrate with champagne on the podium again. Doing it in Mexico would be his greatest consolation.
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