Martin Whitmarsh says Sergio Perez needs to toughen up – Formula 1 news
McLaren team principal, Martin Whitmarsh has said that their driver, Sergio Perez needs to toughen up to attain competitive results for the team in the season ahead.
Perez joined the Woking based team in this season as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement. Although, he came with great hopes and received a lot of backing from the British
squad. However, he has only been able to attain two points in the season so far which he scored with his 9th place finish in the Malaysian Grand Prix held at Sepang International Circuit.
Whitmarsh has said that the Mexican driver has been really polite in the season until now and needs to toughen up. Furthermore, he asserted that the youngster allows
everyone to pass him during the race. Therefore, he insisted that the 23-year-old must buckle up to deliver his best on track in the forthcoming races so that they can score good points in this year’s championship fight.
“He's been very polite so far this year,” Whitmarsh said. “He needs to toughen up. He's been generous in allowing people past him. I told him: 'You have to be out
there racing'. That means sometimes you have got to use elbows and you have got to be robust without being dirty.”
On the other hand, he admired the performance of Perez’s teammate, Jenson Button who performed convincingly well in the Chinese GP and managed to secure fifth place
finish after taking a start from 8th grid slot. Besides, he said that the Mexican has immense pressure on him because he is with a bigger team and is driving alongside Button who has a lot of experience. Nonetheless, he expressed that they are hoping
to see some good performances of their young driver in the upcoming races.
“He's still a very young guy in a big team with lots of expectations, so you are under a lot more scrutiny. It is tougher and he has a team-mate who is doing a
great job, so there is some pressure there,” he added.
Let’s see whether Perez will be able to come up to the expectations of his team or not.
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