Is Sergio Perez the right choice for McLaren? – Formula 1 Special
Sergio Perez will represent McLaren-Mercedes in the 2013 Formula 1 season partnering Jenson Button.
Perez, who drove for Sauber in the 2012 season, is a replacement for McLaren’s long term championship winning driver Lewis Hamilton who announced to move to Mercedes AMG in September.
Perez is of Mexican nationality and is also known as Checo. The driver is young and has been competing in motor-racing competitions for a while. Like many other drivers who have had a passion for motorsports, Perez also started out young with Karting. He
went on to participate in the Formula 3, Formula BMW and the GP2 Series. He has also represented Mexico in the A1Grand Prix. One of the highlights of his young career is that he is the member of the Ferrari Driver Academy. His Formula 1 career started in 2011
with Sauber F1 which made him the fifth Mexican to become the part of F1. In his first year he scored 14 race points with 16th overall position. He improved in his second year with much more points and making it to the 10th standing.
When Hamilton announced his transfer to Mercedes, it was obviously a great loss for McLaren. Losing a championship winning driver would have obviously worried team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, about the team becoming weaker. Whitmarsh was quite quick in
announcing that he will be signing on Perez but certainly the young driver did begin his 2012 season impressively. His podium finishes in Malaysia, Canada and Italy were certainly a huge factor for Whitmarsh to confirm him.
However, Sergio’s performance in the rest of the season seems quite disconnected with these podiums as he remained inconsistent. His performance took an even deeper slump after the confirmation of his contract with McLaren. It can be considered that this
lack of performance could have been caused by the pressure he might be feeling about going to an established F1 team like McLaren. Even though Perez has denied any such reason, he could not improve right until the end of the season.
Whitmarsh did have other options like Nico Hulkenberg of Force India, who is now replacing Perez at Sauber F1. Both Force India and Sauber F1 had been in competition for the 6th standing in the constructors’ championship. Even though Hulkenberg’s race points
were less than Sergio’s this season but the former Force India driver was much more consistent in his performance.
A driver’s contrasting nationality from his team might not be of much importance in F1 as it is quite common. While Sergio is Mexican, McLaren is a British team and has been represented by British drivers for a while now. It is possible that the driver might
face problems in communication and making an smooth relationship with other members of the team.
A question that has been raised frequently after the deal and Sergio’s poor performance is if Whitmarsh has taken a risk with this decision. Signing Sergio is definitely a risk with which the team principal does agree.
However, Hamilton was also very young when he joined McLaren; in fact he had been with the team since he was eleven years old. Also, McLaren is a team with an extensive history and has the tools to raise championship winning drivers. Sergio is young and
has the passion for becoming successful as proved by his plans for winning the title.
Let’s see if Checo is able to justify his move to the Formula 1 fraternity when the 2013 season begins in March!
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely of the writer’s and do not reflect bettor.com’s official editorial policy.
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