INTERNATIONAL: The Mexican Grand Prix is still a few days away but Red Bull's Sergio Perez is already winning over the audience in his home country."Checo," as he is affectionately called by fans and teammates, burned rubber during a show run organised by Red Bull on Reforma Avenue, one of Mexico City's main avenues on Wednesday.

Formula One Fan, Ricardo Rodriguez says, "I am very excited about the Grand Prix. It's great Red Bull chose to do this show run in the city. It's fills me with joy. I hope he (Sergio Perez) does well on Sunday and hopefully clinch the first place here at home.''

Due to last year's pandemic-induced lockdowns, Mexico's lastest F1 competition took place in 2019, with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton rushing to first place. The Grand Prix at the Hermanos Rodriguez race track, to the east of Mexico City, starts on Friday with practice rounds and qualification on Saturday leading up to the race on Sunday.

The only Mexican driver on the starting grid, Sergio Perez will compete at home for the first timesince becoming a race winner. The Red Bull driver won in Bahrain last year and in Azerbaijan in June. No Mexican has ever won a home race in the Formula One world championship.

^{PHOTO: SERGIO PEREZ DRIVING FORMULA ONE CAR DURING SHOW RUN, SOUNDBITES FROM FORMULA ONE FANS}