Sergio Perez with Mexican fans. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Sergio Perez will have the crowd on his side and a championship-winning car beneath him but the dream of becoming the first Mexican to win a home Formula One grand prix may remain just that.
If Sunday (Monday NZ time) is a chance for "Checo", in a season where Red Bull have won every race bar one, the odds favour dominant team mate Max Verstappen in the rarefied air of Mexico City's Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
"I don't think Max is going to get the warmest reception in Mexico," commented team boss Christian Horner after Verstappen won to boos in Austin last weekend. "But that's water off a duck's back."
Perez, with 'Never Give Up' prominent on a specially-designed helmet for the occasion, remains positive despite a run of poor form.
"Mexico is my most important weekend of the season and I can't wait," said the 33-year-old.
"We have made some very good steps with the car but didn't get to fully show our progress due to taking some wrong directions with the set up this past weekend.
"I am optimistic for this week, we know what direction we have to take now so hopefully we get to show that."
Verstappen would not be the triple world champion he is, and winner of 50 grands prix by the age of 26, if he did not want to win every race and that does not change even with the championships done and dusted.
Another victory would put the Dutch driver equal fourth in the all-time lists with France's four-times world champion Alain Prost on 51.
It would also be his 16th of the season, breaking his own record for the most in a single campaign, and equal his 2021 record of most podiums in a season (18).
Perez, a winner twice this year, has been off the podium in his previous four outings and beaten by Verstappen in the last 14.
Verstappen has won four of the last five Mexican Grands Prix while Perez has been third in the last two.
McLaren's Lando Norris also stands on the cusp of equalling a record, albeit unwanted, as the driver with most podium finishes without winning.
The holder is now-retired German Nick Heidfeld, who racked up 13 podiums including eight second places, but Norris is on 12 with six seconds.
Mercedes may fancy their chances more, with seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton a double winner in Mexico and runner-up in Austin last Sunday before his upgraded car failed a post-race check and was disqualified.
Hamilton was second in Mexico last year and in 2021.
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing, at the 2022 Mexican Grand Prix. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Less familiar names will be seen in Friday's first practice with teams fulfilling obligations to give track time to young drivers.
Australian Jack Doohan, son of MotoGP great Mick, will be driving for Alpine while French driver Isack Hadjar has his chance at AlphaTauri and compatriot Theo Pourchaire at Alfa Romeo.
Denmark's Frederik Vesti will take George Russell's Mercedes and Britain's Oliver Bearman replaces Kevin Magnussen at Haas for FP1.
Formula One statistics for the Mexican Grand Prix at Mexico City's Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, round 19 of the 22-race season.
Lap distance: 4.304km. Total distance: 305.354km (71 laps)
2022 race winner: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull
2022 pole position: Verstappen, one minute 17.775 seconds
Race lap record: 1:17.774, Bottas, Mercedes 2021.
Start time: 2000GMT/1400 local
MEXICO
Red Bull's Sergio Perez is the only Mexican driver on the starting grid and would be the first to win a home championship race.
Lewis Hamilton (2016, 2019) and Verstappen (2017, 2018, 2021 and 2022) are the only active drivers to have won in Mexico. The race returned in 2015, when now-retired Nico Rosberg won for Mercedes, for the first time since 1992.
There was no race in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The race was won from pole position in 2015, 2016 and 2022. Hamilton, third on the grid in 2019, is the only driver to have won and not started on the front row since the race returned.
Sunday will be the 23rd time Mexico has held a championship grand prix.
The circuit is the highest of any on the calendar at 2,285m above sea level.
CHAMPIONSHIP
Red Bull and Verstappen have won both championships already, Verstappen his third and Red Bull their sixth.
WINS
Verstappen has won 15 of 18 races, his record run of 10 wins in a row ending in Singapore last month.
The Dutch driver has 50 wins from 181 starts and is fifth on the all-time list. Alain Prost, with 51, is fourth.
Red Bull have won 17 of 18 races, with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz winning in Singapore. Red Bull have also had a team record six one-two finishes in 2023.
Hamilton has a record 103 victories from 328 starts but has not won since Saudi Arabia in December 2021. Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso has 32 wins, most recently in Spain in 2013 with Ferrari, from a record 373 starts.
POLE POSITION
Hamilton has a record 104 poles.
Red Bull have been on pole 12 times this season. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc took the top slot in Azerbaijan, Belgium and Austin, Hamilton in Hungary and Sainz in Italy and Singapore.
Verstappen has 10 poles for 2023.
PODIUM
Six teams and 11 drivers have made a podium appearance this season: Red Bull, Alpine, Aston Martin, McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari.
Verstappen has been off the podium only once since Brazil last November.
Verstappen holds the record for most podiums in a season -- 18 in 2021 -- and has had 17 so far in 2023. Michael Schumacher is the only driver to have finished on the podium in every race of a season, in 2002 (17 races).
POINTS
Verstappen leads team mate Sergio Perez by 226 points and is set to end the season with a record margin.
FASTEST LAPS
Eight different drivers have taken fastest laps this season - Alonso, Alfa Romeo's Guanyu Zhou, Verstappen (8), Perez (2), Hamilton (3), Mercedes's George Russell, McLaren's Oscar Piastri and AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda.
Tsunoda's fastest lap in Austin was only the third by a Japanese driver in F1, after Satoru Nakajima in 1989 (Australia) and Kamui Kobayashi in 2012 (China).
MILESTONE
Verstappen took his 50th career win last weekend and will join Alain Prost at equal fourth on the all-time lists if he wins in Mexico.
He can set a record for most wins in a season, having equalled his 2022 haul of 15. He can also equal his record for most podiums in a season (18)
McLaren's Lando Norris is one podium away from equalling retired German Nick Heidfeld's unwanted record of 13 top three finishes without a win.
-Reuters
