Sergio Perez suffers HEARTBREAK at his home Mexico Grand Prix as he is shunted off by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz at the first CORNER… before his Red Bull car is retired before it makes it round a single lap

• Checo collided with Charles Leclerc in the first corner and was forced to retire 
• It’s a disappointing end to a week that held such promise for the hometown man
• DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news 

Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez had his day at his home race – the Mexico City Grand Prix – come to a sudden and unfortunate end before even completing the first turn.

At the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Perez started the race P5 and got a great jump off the line.

But he went into Turn 1 three-wide – with teammate Max Verstappen on the inside and pole sitter Charles Leclerc in between them.

Perez turned across Leclerc’s Ferrari – with his right rear tire clipping Leclerc’s front left.

It caused Perez’s car to bounce into the air and caused severe damage to the structure of his vehicle.

Sergio Perez had his day end early before he even completed the first turn in Mexico City

Perez (front right) went three-wide into turn one with teammate Max Verstappen (front left) on the inside and Ferrari driver and pole sitter Charles Leclerc in between the two of them

Perez’s right rear tire collided with Leclerc’s front left tire, sending him flying through the air

Perez was forced to pilot his car back to the paddock – where Red Bull assessed the damage and chose to retire the vehicle.

The wreck also damaged Leclerc’s front wing – with the endplate hanging off for a few laps.

Eventually, it fell off the Ferrari and a virtual safety car was deployed on the track.

Going out of that first corner, Verstappen was able to claim the lead after starting in P3.

It’s a disappointing end to a week that held such promise for ‘Checo’ – who was hoping to use the home momentum to turn around a poor run of form he had been on.

Perez hasn’t claimed the top spot on the podium since Azerbaijan and has claimed three P2 finishes and two P3 finishes.

Meanwhile, he’s watched his teammate Verstappen win 13 races since Baku.

Perez piloted the car back to the paddock – where Red Bull retired the vehicle

It’s a frustrating end to the week for Perez – who was hoping to make good for his home fans

Perez has had a particularly tough go of it in the past five races – with two retirements, including this one. He’s also finished P8 in Singapore, P10 in Qatar and P4 in Austin for the US Grand Prix.

After that strong race last weekend, and finishing P3 in FP1 and FP3, he was hoping to kick off a new swing of momentum amid rumors of discord between him and the bosses at Red Bull.

But a P5 qualifying spot wasn’t the ideal start and this retirement doesn’t make things much better.

He’ll look to pick up the pieces at Interlagos next week for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil.

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