Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsForce India

Race will be 'biggest day of my career' - Perez

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Sergio Perez says the Mexican Grand Prix will be the biggest day of his career to take part in his home race for the first time.

The last grand prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez was held in 1992, with numerous attempts to return failing before finally being approved for this season. As the only Mexican driver in the sport at present, Perez says he is fully aware how important racing in front of his home crowd will be.

"It’s definitely a big dream for me to be able to race in my home country," Perez said. "It’s been more than 12 years since I raced in my country, so definitely it’s going to be the biggest day of my career on Sunday, because to race in front of my whole people, all my country, it’s something very special.

"You know how Mexicans are. So, it’s going to be the most special day of my career, no matter what result I get on Sunday. I really hope that we can have a great result and cheer all the fans that are doing the effort to come. But definitely it’s just going to be a dream come true on Sunday to race in front of my crowd."

And Perez insists he is not fazed by the attention and pressure on him, saying he will use it as an incentive to perform.

"In terms of Sunday, I think it’s very positive pressure Obviously there is a lot of pressure but I take it as a very positive one, there will be a lot of energy, people really supporting me and what I have to do is what I do every weekend, it’s focus on myself.

"Once I put the helmet on, it’s time to focus on what I’m doing, I have to do the normal procedure that I do throughout the races. There are a lot of things that we have to do before the race start, before qualifying and so on. Obviously there is a lot of pressure but a very positive type of pressure and I see that it will give me a very good motivation to do well this Sunday."

Chris Medland's Mexican Grand Prix preview

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.