by The organizer of the Mexico City Grand Prix is confident that the event will continue even if Sergio Perez is no longer at the start.
Just as it was the popularity of Max Verstappen that brought Formula 1 back to Zandvoort, Sergio Perez was largely responsible for the sport’s resurgence in Mexico.
While Perez has a contract with Red Bull until 2025, it is extremely doubtful whether he will be retained and, coincidentally, his contract with Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez also expires next year.
However, event president Alejandro Soberon insists the driver’s future will have no bearing on whether the circuit continues to host a round of the world championship.
“We’re pretty optimistic that we’ll be running a race for many, many years to come,” he said ESPN.
Asked if Perez’s absence could have an impact on the event, he replied: “I would say I’m not so sure if he’s nearing the end of his career. He is a great driver who has had a difficult season. There could be many reasons for this, and it is.” It’s not my place to talk about it.
“What I can tell you is that the Mexican audience, the fan base, is very strong for Formula 1 in general. Obviously Checo is a great asset to that.”
“Mexico is very important to Formula 1,” he added. “We have a much better show on the track today than we did five years ago. I think the competition and the quality of the spectacle on the track will be enough to maintain the interest of the audience, so as organizers we have done this race, we are very keen to find a way to maintain the contract independently of Checo to extend.”
In fact, Soberon believes that a “local hero” is not the key to an event’s success.
“There are very few races that have a local driver,” he said. “This year in Formula 1 in general we have had sell-out crowds everywhere and that reflects the competition and the quality of the show.”
“Of course everyone would like to have a local driver, but the first year we held the race here 50% of the fans wore a red shirt, so Ferrari has a wonderful fan base here.”
“I leave you with a few small calculations. We no longer have any capacity. We could have drawn 600,000, if we had unlimited capacity we could have another 200,000 here, but we can’t deploy them.”
“That’s why it sold out so quickly a year in advance. Probably without Checo maybe a 20% drop, 25% of course, but it would still be a sell-off.”
