The season has not been friendly for Czech Perez. Since last August, in the Netherlands, the Mexican had not been able to stand out in the season, when he reached a creditable sixth place. You have to go back months to get to April when he celebrated his last podium in the Chinese Grand Prix. In Austin, Pérez was a few meters away from reaching sixth place until George Russell could overcome the power of the Red Bull. Thus, Pérez lost the opportunity to patch up this year that continues to open wounds. On the other side of the garage, Verstappen was able to gain third position from the driver of the moment, Lando Norris, thanks to his tenacity and a last-minute penalty. The race was won by Charles Leclerc, who showed off the Ferrari turbo.

In the race, the Mexican started from ninth position. On qualifying Saturday he was in tenth position because there was a collision with Russell’s Mercedes that prevented the Mexican from giving a more decent lap. The Briton started in the last position and that helped Pérez start from the ninth step in the Circuit of the Americas. While Verstappen and Leclerc sent Norris back, Pérez had to defend himself from being overtaken by Fernando Alonso. In the first laps, the Red Bull driver was fighting with Yuki Tsunoda to try to beat him for eighth place. It took until lap 18 for him to enter a corner and take the position from the Japanese.

On lap 26, the Mexican went to the garage to change his tires. With the rearrangement of drivers after the exits to the pits, the Mexican returned to the starting box in ninth position, which he was able to reach after overtaking Kevin Magnussen of Haas without incident. Nothing to do in the race, as it has been this season: Red Bull’s pace has gone from more to less. Of course: you are always waiting for someone lucky safety car that could help him climb positions.

On lap 38, Checo Pérez overtook the new joy on the track, the Argentine Franco Colapinto, to move up the standings. Finally, a penalty on Russell helped the Mexican secure sixth position in the last 20 laps, but more than 30 seconds behind Piastri, something impossible to achieve. What he did have to worry about was a reborn Russell who wanted to take away that sixth position and, on the last lap, he managed to do so, much to the Mexican’s discomfort. A drop in spirit for the one from Jalisco who had had a good career. “We had no rhythm at all,” Pérez said after the race. At the top, Leclerc celebrated the victory, followed by Sainz and then Verstappen, who got the position after a punishment for Norris. “We never had the rhythm to attack,” reproached the Dutchman, also a victim of the car’s performance.

In Austin, the Mexican looked more relaxed. The pressure was released during the summer holidays when she was able to rest after a first part of the season full of anguish with two brutal crashes on the circuits of Monaco and Montreal. Rumors suggested that his place would be taken by Daniel Ricciardo, but it was the Australian who was sacked from the Red Bull structure. Also that Liam Lawson would enter in place of the Mexican, although it was this one who replaced richard. There was even a version that Pérez would announce his retirement from Formula 1 at the Mexican Grand Prix. That version was denied by the pilot who limited himself to posting a scene of The Wolf of Wall Street where a furious Di Caprio is heard saying: “I will not leave!” Among the Red Bull team managers they are still waiting to see how the Mexican’s performance evolves to start moving their chips for next year despite the fact that the Mexican has a signed contract until 2026.

Checo Pérez has some crazy days ahead of him. He will run at home, in the Mexico City Grand Prixsheltered by the legion of Mexicans who want to see him get away from suffering. They want a podium, he just wants things to go well for him, to be able to fight for the top five in the race and, in the best of cases, celebrate a podium at home, as he already did in 2021 and 2022. The task looks complicated due to the decline in Red Bull’s performance and the rise of McLaren and Ferrari. Pérez needs the stars to align to give a good performance against his country.