Perez has confidence for his home Grand Prix: 'We are back in the race'

Sergio Perez will be massively supported by his fans at his home Grand Prix in Mexico this weekend. The Red Bull driver has had ups and downs this year, but this weekend he believes he is back competing for the top positions.

The Mexican Grand Prix is a special one because it will be raced 2200 metres above sea level. This is therefore going to cause difficulties, Perez believes: "It's really difficult. I think if he [George Russell] was saving some fuel and breaks in Austin, here it's even more intense. Especially if you're in traffic on Sunday with the altitude, there's a lot of management that we're going to have to do on Sunday just to see the finish line. It's not so easy to fight, to overtake. On a strategy, it's very likely that it will be a one-stop. So in that regard, qualifying is really important."

Distorted picture during GP Austin?

In the United States, Perez finished fifth twice, while his teammate, Max Verstappen, won both races. Yet according to the driver with start number 11, this is a distorted picture: "I think that the gap in Austin was a lot smaller than it really showed, finishing the fight on the race. I think we were all within a tenth, maximum two-tenths, the top five, top six cars."

Is the leak over for Perez?

Heading into his home Grand Prix, Perez is confident. The Mexican says: "I said that after Qatar that we had a very good few days back in the factory, that we went really deep on the detail and we understood a lot of things that we were trying to compensate for our issues that actually were making the basically the result worse. So I believe that we are back in contention."