Checo Perez, USA News (Mexico City): Spanish driver Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin and Mexican driver Sergio Checo Pérez of Cadillac were eliminated on Saturday during the first qualifying round (Q1) for the Mexico City Grand Prix. This Formula 1 event marks the nineteenth round of the global motorsport championship and takes place this weekend at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in the Mexican capital.
Alonso finished eighteenth in timing, while Pérez placed twenty-first. British seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari set the fastest time of the session, covering the 4,304-meter Mexican track in one minute, 17.341 seconds—44 milliseconds faster than Frenchman Isack Hadjar of Red Bull and 165 milliseconds ahead of Ferrari’s other driver, Monegasque Charles Leclerc. All top drivers recorded their times using soft tires.
Alonso, the two-time world champion from Asturias who was aiming for what would likely have been his best qualifying performance of the year, was instructed to stop his car due to an apparent water pressure issue at the fourteenth of the 17 turns before reaching the pit lane. The incident triggered a red flag stoppage with eleven minutes remaining in the session, despite Alonso having previously posted the third-fastest time.
The second qualifying round (Q2) will follow shortly.
