Is Perez an undervalued driver? "He had a unusual driving style''
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Sergio Perez is known as an undervalued driver. The Mexican was given a chance at McLaren, but was unable to follow up his performance with mid-miders on the team that had just started the drop.
The opportunity at the 'top
In 2011 Perez made his debut in Formula 1 for Sauber and certainly in his second year he made a big impression. He was on the podium three times and almost took Fernando Alonso's victory in Malaysia. It gave Perez a move to McLaren, but that dreamed step to a top team turned out not to be it.
Where McLaren had always fought for the title until 2012, this was no longer the case in 2013 and 2014. Perez stepped in as a replacement for Lewis Hamilton who had left for Mercedes and thus had a big place to fill with the team from Woking. That never quite worked out.
Strange driving style of Perez
''When we were teammates he was not so consistent. In some races he just finished where he was bizarrely fast in others. I have no idea where he got that from. On other circuits his driving style just didn't fit and that worked against him. In China, for example, that was the case'', says Jenson Button in the podcast In The Fast Lane.
After this inferior season, Perez was able to leave immediately and got the chance at Force India, which he is still racing for today. ''He had a strange driving style which worked very well for some circuits. I don't know if he still is, but he is very fast and a real fighter. He has also grown as a person, has confidence in his qualities and is now seeing the big picture of a whole season'', concludes the Brit.