Perez makes 'terrible season' admission as F1 pressure mounts

Sergio Perez has conceded his 2024 F1 has been "terrible" as he targets a podium at his home race, the Mexico City Grand Prix.

The 34-year-old believes a successful weekend in front of his adoring fans has the potential to "massively" change how he feels about his year.

Whilst Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen leads the drivers' championship, in spite of an increasingly difficult and relatively uncompetitive RB20, Perez sits in eighth - the slowest scoring driver from the front four teams.

With 150 points, the Mexican driver trails the Dutchman by 204 points and is 17 back from George Russell. More tellingly, Perez is the only one of the leading eight not to have taken a grand prix victory this term.

After starting the campaign in strong form, his performances tailed off. Having scored four podium finishes in the opening five rounds, Perez has not returned to the rostrum since - a run of 14 race weekends since the Chinese Grand Prix in April.

Through his poor results, the pressure on him has continued to grow. Despite signing a contract from 2025 - and potentially 2026 - earlier in the year, Perez came close to losing his seat over the summer shutdown.

That never came to pass and he has been given until the end of the year to save his drive, but his F1 career looks far from certain with Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda waiting in the wings.

When asked in by media including RacingNews365 about the importance of his home event and whether there was added significance in breaking his podium drought at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, the six-time grand prix winner replied: "Yeah, definitely. I know I've had a terrible season, a very difficult one. It started really well, but it's been really, really difficult.

"And for me, if I get a strong result, it can definitely change my season massively in terms of personal feelings. So I'm really up for it."

Uncapitalised momentum

Perez came tantalisingly close to ending his podium-less streak at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in September.

Having out-performed his team-mate over the weekend, he was fighting against the Ferraris for a spot on the rostrum in the closing stages when sudden contact with Carlos Sainz forced them both intro retirement.

Despite the penultimate-lap crash, many felt it could be the catalyst Perez needed to turn his year around. However, in the two subsequent rounds that has yet to materialise.

When asked how much momentum he felt he lost through the incident in Baku, the Red Bull driver responded: "I think momentum in Formula 1 is very important, when you just put the car on track and you know that everything is working and you are so further ahead of the people that put the car on track and have a lot of problems.

"I think it's the same for everyone, but I also know how this sport works and it's all about your last race. So if I get a good one here… I got a good one in Baku, but it didn't work out. If I get a good one here, then my season can definitely take a U-turn."