WHY SERGIO PEREZ MEANS SO MUCH TO MEXICO

Sergio Perez hits 300 Grand Prix starts this weekend in Mexico City, and he'll do it wearing Cadillac colors for the first time on home soil. The American team isn't quick yet — results have been brutal — but that won't quiet the Foro Sol, where the roar is loud enough that Checo says he can hear it from the cockpit.

Perez is the most successful Mexican driver in F1 history: six career wins, two home podiums with Red Bull, back-to-back Constructors' titles alongside Verstappen. His face is painted on walls from Mexico City to Nuevo Leon. He's a national icon racing on a circuit named after the Rodriguez brothers, the last Mexicans to make it this far before Checo broke through in 2011.

Cadillac locked him down through 2029. The car isn't there yet, but the bond between driver and country is. Sunday won't be about the result. It never really has been.