WATCH | Sergio Perez explains how his Mexican GP qualifying went from bad to worse

An expected crowd of more than 350 000 spectators will attend the Mexican Grand Prix race weekend, with the vast majority there to see local hero and Red Bull driver Sergio Perez.

And why not? Perez has been driving well the past two years, and, despite struggling to get to grips with his updated RB18, he is still competitive, which is why his adoring fans had high hopes of him getting a good result in qualifying.

Sadly, it didn't turn out that way, and the Mexican had to settle for fourth behind teammate Max Verstappen and the two Mercedes-AMGs of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

According to Perez, his RB18 suffered an electrical problem that had a ripple effect throughout the entire car. It even impacted the telemetry, meaning he had no reference laps.

"It was a big shame," Perez explained after the session.

"We had an electrical issue throughout [qualifying], and with DRS, we were struggling and so on. It was important to make sure we got everything right, but I was pretty much blind through quali - I had no reference lap time. I had no information on my brake balance or times, so it was just a mess."

However, when one considers Perez's qualifying holistically, fourth was the best he could have done on the day. Could he have gone faster and maybe found himself in the top three? Maybe even on pole? Perhaps, but technical gremlins had the final say.

"When I look back at my quali, I nearly got knocked out in Q1, and in Q2, so to be P4 is not the end of the world. But I really believe we could have fought for pole position," he concluded.

A tricky home qualifying for Checo, but Sunday is another day ??#MexicoGP #F1 @SChecoPerez pic.twitter.com/s6XZtmivkT

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