Perez to feel the love even if the dream is dashed

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 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 Sunday. "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