Verstappen chases win #16 in Mexico as teammate Perez wants to delight home crowd

The Mexican Grand Prix returns as the first of the final four races in the 2023 Formula 1 season.

This year's race could be a defining one, as Red Bull's Sergio Perez will want to use the event as a launching pad to rejuvenate his ailing F1 career.

Alternatively, if rumours turn out to be true, the local hero could use the opportunity to announce his retirement from the pinnacle of motorsport.

The Mexican GP has been a permanent fixture on the F1 calendar since 2015, only being omitted in 2020 due to Covid-19.

Home hero Perez is yet to win around the track in Mexico City, and if 2023 is his final year in F1, he'd want to make the best of his chances in what is the fastest and quickest car on the grid.

Just IMAGINE the fever of a home win for @SChecoPerez ????#MexicoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/iGedEjO3ge

Win #16?

When the race returned in 2015 for the first time since 1992, Mercedes' Nico Rosberg took pole and the win. His teammate, Lewis Hamilton, took the winning honours the following year, and he would do so again in 2019.

But of the current drivers, it is Perez's teammate, Max Verstappen, who is the most successful driver around the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit.

The Dutchman won here in 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2022. Some of these wins did not come without controversy, but the record books will reflect Verstappen's success around the track.

Should the Red Bull driver win again this Sunday, it will be his 51st F1 victory and the 16th of the season. Last time out in the USA, Verstappen equalled his 2022 record of 15 wins in a single year, with the opportunity to extend it coming this weekend.

But is Verstappen focused on the record? According to the three-time F1 Drivers' champion, he is taking it one race at a time, despite the