Sergio “Checo” Pérez's participation in the Canadian Grand Prix ended early this Sunday. The Mexican Cadillac driver suffered a mechanical failure that forced him to retire on lap 43 of the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal, in what represented his first retirement since returning to Formula 1 with the American team.

The man from Guadalajara had started the competition from twentieth position and managed to advance several positions during the race. At the time of abandoning, he was in 14th place and was in direct dispute with Esteban Ocon's Haas, in the middle of a strategy based on soft tires for the final stretch of the test.

The race was being led by the Italian Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes driver and current world championship leader. Pérez was trying to get closer to the middle of the classification after a progressive comeback that took him to 15th place after the start.

The situation changed suddenly when the right front suspension of his Cadillac broke while approaching the pit entrance. The defect destabilized the car and forced the Mexican to slowly head towards his team area, where he ended his race permanently.

Upon getting out of the car, Pérez showed signs of frustration as he observed the damage to the right front tire, completely out of its usual position. Cadillac later reported that it had no immediate explanation for the source of the problem and that it would begin an investigation to determine the causes of the mechanical failure.

A bumpy race in Montreal

The Mexican's abandonment was one of several incidents recorded during a difficult weekend in Canada. Also out of the competition were Lando Norris, from McLaren; Arvid Lindblad, of Racing Bulls; Alex Albon, of Williams; and Fernando Alonso, from Aston Martin.

For Pérez, retirement meant breaking his streak of completed races since his debut with Cadillac this season. His teammate, Valtteri Bottas, had suffered his only retirement of the year at the Australian Grand Prix.

The weekend had already shown signs of difficulty since free practice. In the only training session held before the sprint format, Checo set the twenty-first fastest time, four and a half seconds behind Antonelli, who led the session with Mercedes.

The practice was marked by multiple interruptions. Liam Lawson caused a red flag after stopping on track, while Alex Albon crashed into the wall between turns six and seven. Later, Esteban Ocon also caused another neutralization after losing control of his Haas and breaking the front wing.

Fernando Alonso finished tenth in that session and Carlos Sainz finished fifteenth. Argentine Franco Colapinto could not record time due to problems with the accelerator of his Alpine, a situation that kept him in the garage for the rest of the test.

Antonelli dominated the activity ahead of George Russell and the Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, in a day marked by incidents and mechanical problems on the Canadian track.