Home favorites Perez, Gutierrez struggle in Mexican GP qualifying - MotorSportsTalk

Of the 100,000-plus fans that packed into the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City on Saturday for Formula 1 qualifying, many will have been cheering for local drivers Sergio Perez and Esteban Gutierrez.

However, neither of Mexico’s favorite sons could impress during qualifying as both were left disappointed after falling short of their own targets.

Gutierrez was the first driver to fall, suffering a Q1 knock-out after spinning on his final lap that left him 17th on the grid.

The Mexican driver is racing in front of his home fans for the first time in F1 this weekend, and said that the support helped to lift his spirits after qualifying.

“It’s been quite a challenging weekend for us. Heading into qualifying, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I really gave it my best,” Gutierrez said.

“I was driving over the limit trying to put everything together for the team and for the fans – they have been incredible.

“I had to try to be aggressive as I knew the lap at the beginning of the run may not have been enough. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you don’t, but at least I know I gave it the maximum.

“When I got out of the car, I wasn’t very happy, but walking along the pit lane everybody was cheering, and it was an amazing feeling just to see their support.

“They’ve made a huge difference to our motivation and I really want to thank them all.”

Perez was Mexico’s best hope of a starring role in qualifying, but he failed to make it through to Q3, finishing down in 12th place.

“It’s a shame to miss out on Q3 today, but I’m optimistic we can recover some positions in the race with a strong strategy,” Perez said.

“In Q2 we went out on the soft tires to see if we could progress to Q3, but for my second run we switched to the supersoft tires.

“Unfortunately I made a small mistake on my final lap, which ended my chance of qualifying inside the top ten. I just locked up the front tires going into turn one and ran wide. I apologize for the mistake, but I hope I can give all my fans some happiness in the race tomorrow.

“The good news is that we made some progress with the car in between final practice and qualifying: our race pace looks competitive and I think we can come away with a good result tomorrow.”

The Mexican Grand Prix is live on NBC from 2:30pm ET on Sunday.

Follow @LukeSmithF1

An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”