Sergio Perez, Force India, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, 2018

Perez: “Not looking very likely” Mexico will remain on calendar

2020 F1 season

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Sergio Perez is doubtful the Mexican Grand Prix will remain on the F1 schedule next year.

The future of the race, which does not have a contract to appear on the 2020 F1 calendar, has been in doubt since the new government in Mexico said it would reallocate funds for the race elsewhere.

Despite his popularity in Mexico, Perez believe he can do “nothing” to change the situation.

“At the end it’s a political decision,” he said in response to a question from RaceFans. “I’m not involved with it.

“All I can do is just try to influence everyone in Mexico is really enthusiastic about Formula 1. When Formula 1 when goes to Mexico the whole city stops. It’s the best weekend in the whole year. Everyone wants to keep it but at the end it will be a political decision and I cannot influence it.”

“I hope it doesn’t happen and Mexico remains in the calendar,” he added. “As you know it’s a great race for Formula 1, for the fans, for my country so I really hope that it stays.

“I think as a country what we are able to achieve that weekend is very special, as a Mexican. I would love to have Mexico on the calendar for a couple more years. They’re still negotiating but it’s not looking very likely at the moment.”

However Perez is hopeful the loss of the race would not cause his Mexican sponsors to withdraw their backing.

“We’ll see the implications that it has but I had Mexican sponsors before we had a Mexican Grand Prix so we’ll see. I’m not too concerned about it.”

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Gabriele Koslowski
Gabriele Koslowski first began following Formula 1 during the early noughties, and is a director of a Belgian motorsport media company. During the past...
Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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19 comments on “Perez: “Not looking very likely” Mexico will remain on calendar”

  1. If Mexico drops with both Monza and Silverstone remaining then in this scenario either Circuit de Catalunya or Hockenheim would be the other one out of the two that are going to face the ax after this season. Since Chase Carey’s words pre-Spanish GP, I’ve eagerly been waiting for updates/confirmations on the five venues out of contract beyond the ongoing campaign so that there’d be less guessing over which two are going to face the drop and which three out of the five are going to remain. At present, Monza looks the most likely to stay, but still no official confirmation/announcement on that either.

  2. M.S. (@gentlemanfromwoking)
    2nd June 2019, 14:06

    Quite a shame, Mexico has been one of the livelier races in recent years. I really like how it used to equal the engine performance. On the other hand, the butchered version of the circuit hasn’t really grown on me.

  3. Neil (@neilosjames)
    2nd June 2019, 15:23

    Will miss the crowd but not the circuit.

    1. joe pineapples
      2nd June 2019, 19:47

      agreed

  4. Josh (@canadianjosh)
    2nd June 2019, 15:38

    All it would take is 15 or so 18 wheeler loads across the border and they could pay for it. But knowing the corrupt Mexican government, they likely want the F1 money in their own pockets to pay for their Swiss mansions.

    1. Considering the US government is even more corrupt and they still have a race, I don’t think it has anything to do with corruption.

      1. Josh (@canadianjosh)
        2nd June 2019, 17:33

        I have both family in the US and Mexico and your comparing apples to oranges.

      2. “Considering the US government is even more corrupt ” Because only Americans… right? Don’t even go there.

    2. The new administration don´t want to pay something for only a few fans; in a country with a population of 131,600,000 (60% in poverty), Federal money shall go to more productive issues… if bringing F1 is such a “huge” business, why some of the mexican companies or millionares didn´t played the game?

      By the way: Josh talks “rubbish”. I am a 57 & mexican, nobody “tells” me is how life here. Corrupt is local government, even canadian; so talk about your country, when it´s perfect, then talk about other.

      1. Segun entiendo el dinero de la F1 se la van a dar al Tren Maya asi que al fin de cuentas es dinero que se va a tirar a la basura en un projecto que esta condenado al fracaso. Al menos con la F1 la derrama economica beneficiaba a mucho habitantes de la ciudad de Mexico. Pero como todo, es uno de los caprichos del anciano presidente y pues ni hablar… lo que uste diga señor presidente.

      2. Josh (@canadianjosh)
        4th June 2019, 1:51

        af2, I have family in Allende, Coahuila so as you can imagine I DO know what I’m talking about.

  5. I’d be more upset about Mexico falling off the calender if they hadn’t ruined the circuit & when I say that it’s not that the new layout is bad but it’s lost everything that made the old one as great as it was.

    And i’m not even talking about the peraltada i’m talking about the rest of it. Every corner on the old layout was flowing & the esses were an amazing sequence of corners. Now everything is tighter, Slower & angled, It’s just all lost the flow that used to make that track so much fun.

    Compare how it was – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMTgeVnHyG8
    To how it is – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUtxxUaCIpo

    1. Do any of them flow anymore? It’s sometimes painful to watch onboards at most of the modern F1 tracks. Is it a Tilke thing?

      1. @darryn Some of it is down to the push to increase overtaking as it’s felt that the more flowing/sweeping medium/high speed corners aren’t good for overtaking while the slower/tighter corners with a more acute angle provide more opportunities to overtake. This is why the 1st 2 chicanes at Mexico were altered to what they are now.

        And then some of it is also down to safety considerations. Altering corners to get a bit more runoff or slowing them down because they can’t increase the runoff.

        There is also an element of what the circuit designer believes creates an interesting challenge for the drivers. Tilke for instance likes to incorporate a lot of off camber corners into his circuits because he believes that they offer up a more possibilities for errors. The final sector of Abu Dhabi is full off off camber corners for this reason.

  6. Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
    2nd June 2019, 19:24

    That’s a shame. I don’t think there has been a boring race in Mexico since its return.

    1. Josh (@canadianjosh)
      2nd June 2019, 20:01

      I always enjoy the racing there as well

  7. Not the most exciting track, but certainly very unique. The high altitude makes for its own challenges, which usually make for an interesting race, in its own way. It would be a shame to see Mexico go, particularly as it draws in huge crowds – which seems to unfortunately make it a rarity in another way.

  8. Would be a shame if it goes. We have seen some nice races there and it is one of the few new circuits that draws a massive number of spectators.

  9. Sergio’s father was actively supporting the current president during his campain… it is so funny that he was promoting the man that was determined to kill the F1 in Mexico putting in risk millions in sponsorship for his son Checo. Can’t complain now Checo… joke is on you.

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