Did McLaren Jump the Gun with Pérez?
- Thread starter RasputinLives
- Start date
I believe we are judging him after 40 Grand Prix, and I'm not that impressed with his form at Sauber.
Fenderman
Rooters Reporter
Me personally I'm judging him on eight years in karting, eight years in lower open wheeler formulae and two and a bit seasons in F1. He appears to have peaked in British F3 in 2007 with a slight bounce back in GP2 in 2010. However, the GP2 peak may not be all it seems as at least two of the quickest guys seemed to have a propensity for winning it or binning it. On that basis my judgement is still reserved although I suspect we are seeing a new Massa. His position is fragile as is my opinion on him and I confess openly that had I been a team manager I would not have given him the drive.
I think 'another Massa' might be high praise. Lets not forget how good Massa was before 2009. I saw Massa one weekend at Turkey destroy the whole field in every session. No one could touch him. Never seen Mr Perez do that yet.
...
I still think people under estimate how good Massa was.
People talk about 2008 but forget he mixed it up with Alonso/Lewis/Kimi in 2007 and held his own as well.
Sorry. off topic. Perez wishes he had Massa's pedigree.
People talk about 2008 but forget he mixed it up with Alonso/Lewis/Kimi in 2007 and held his own as well.
Sorry. off topic. Perez wishes he had Massa's pedigree.
The Artist.....
Champion Elect
When Massa came in to F1, he was being hailed as the next Raikkonen.
When Perez came into F1, he was being hailed as, um, ..... the driver who lost the GP2 title to Pastor Maldonado....
Il_leone
World Champion
With Perez
The more he keeps soldiering around and not near Button's pace ie 20 seconds plus behind then the questions would be asked is it solely down to money if rumours are true Telmex are the team's sponsor next season
I do think if Hulkenberg was in the car he would much faster and Di Resta probably not quite as fast
People keep forgetting Perez got his podiums on having extra sets of tyres
Canada he stated 15th I think
Monza he was 12th and finished 2nd - Ferrari will thank him for passing Alonso and 3pts it cost as well
He has had 2 races where he started outside the top 10 and neither race really moved forward in the race compared to his teammate who at least manages to mix with the front 4
You can say its experience but he's done two seasons now so he has to step up
The more he keeps soldiering around and not near Button's pace ie 20 seconds plus behind then the questions would be asked is it solely down to money if rumours are true Telmex are the team's sponsor next season
I do think if Hulkenberg was in the car he would much faster and Di Resta probably not quite as fast
People keep forgetting Perez got his podiums on having extra sets of tyres
Canada he stated 15th I think
Monza he was 12th and finished 2nd - Ferrari will thank him for passing Alonso and 3pts it cost as well
He has had 2 races where he started outside the top 10 and neither race really moved forward in the race compared to his teammate who at least manages to mix with the front 4
You can say its experience but he's done two seasons now so he has to step up
Il_leone
World Champion
I am surprised Di Resta was not selected given he has test driven for Mclaren and they partly helped him get the Force India drive
Had he not split from Lewis' dad as his manager then maybe it would be him not Perez in the other Mclaren
I thought Mclaren had a policy of world class drivers or I would have thought they must look at who had the most potential to challenge Vettel and Hamilton for the team
It will be interesting to see how much money Telmex bring to the team whether it will be as critical as Maldonado's £30m sponsorship to Williams
Had he not split from Lewis' dad as his manager then maybe it would be him not Perez in the other Mclaren
I thought Mclaren had a policy of world class drivers or I would have thought they must look at who had the most potential to challenge Vettel and Hamilton for the team
It will be interesting to see how much money Telmex bring to the team whether it will be as critical as Maldonado's £30m sponsorship to Williams
If not for Button's pit stop troubles in Malaysia Perez wouldn't have finished ahead of Button in either a qualifying session or a race in 2013. Not good...
Well that was sort of to be expected at this stage. It would be a lot easier to "forgive" Perez if we actually saw them both on around the same piece of tarmac at some point in a race, at least. Being beaten by Jenson - OK, never being in sight of him - we have a problem.
There's still plenty of time for Perez to turn it around though, I'm sure McLaren won't get rid of him before the end of the season at the earliest and only then if they really think there's no hope of him getting up to speed.
Also, I'm quite surprised people are suggesting Di Resta, he got absolutely trounced by Hulkenberg in the second half of last year. Granted he's shown promise in his first season and the first half of last year but Perez got podiums and beat his more experienced team mate in the WDC. Hulkenberg would have been the obvious choice but hadn't he already signed for Sauber? Apart from him you're just left with guys like Kovalainen, Kobayashi and Glock or someone from within McLaren like Paffett or a young unproven driver from elsewhere like Bianchi. I don't think any of those are particularly good options for various reasons.
I think McLaren made the right decision based on the evidence and the options available to them at the time. Well, their mistake was not doing enough to keep Hamilton and the fact that Hamilton is now beating them in a car that was at the back of the midfield for much of last season tells you why he left.
So after a few edits this post has got quite a bit longer!
There's still plenty of time for Perez to turn it around though, I'm sure McLaren won't get rid of him before the end of the season at the earliest and only then if they really think there's no hope of him getting up to speed.
Also, I'm quite surprised people are suggesting Di Resta, he got absolutely trounced by Hulkenberg in the second half of last year. Granted he's shown promise in his first season and the first half of last year but Perez got podiums and beat his more experienced team mate in the WDC. Hulkenberg would have been the obvious choice but hadn't he already signed for Sauber? Apart from him you're just left with guys like Kovalainen, Kobayashi and Glock or someone from within McLaren like Paffett or a young unproven driver from elsewhere like Bianchi. I don't think any of those are particularly good options for various reasons.
I think McLaren made the right decision based on the evidence and the options available to them at the time. Well, their mistake was not doing enough to keep Hamilton and the fact that Hamilton is now beating them in a car that was at the back of the midfield for much of last season tells you why he left.
So after a few edits this post has got quite a bit longer!
sushifiesta Hulkenberg didn't sign for Sauber until after Mclaren had signed Perez.
I think the point I made in the original article was that Mclaren snapped him up too quickly because they wanted to have a replacement to announce when Lewis announced his move to Merc. If they'd waited and taken stock they may have had chance to make a decision using all the evidence instead of some of it. I'm pretty sure that whilst there was a Mclaren drive kicking about The Hulk would not have signed for Sauber.
I agree with you on Di Resta although he is consistant if not fast enough sometimes. He certainly gets into less accidents than Perez.
Speaking of accidents would anyone else have been interested to see what Maldonado would have done in the Mclaren?
I think the point I made in the original article was that Mclaren snapped him up too quickly because they wanted to have a replacement to announce when Lewis announced his move to Merc. If they'd waited and taken stock they may have had chance to make a decision using all the evidence instead of some of it. I'm pretty sure that whilst there was a Mclaren drive kicking about The Hulk would not have signed for Sauber.
I agree with you on Di Resta although he is consistant if not fast enough sometimes. He certainly gets into less accidents than Perez.
Speaking of accidents would anyone else have been interested to see what Maldonado would have done in the Mclaren?
No.
At the end of last season I would have said yes but now he's gone back to binning it on a regular basis so no. If Hulkenberg was available it was a strange decision and it was very surprising to me that McLaren announced Hamilton's replacement on the same day it was confirmed he was leaving.
If I felt like being really mean I could say that if McLaren were winning championships Lewis wouldn't have left and if they're not going to win championships Perez is a suitable driver...
If I felt like being really mean I could say that if McLaren were winning championships Lewis wouldn't have left and if they're not going to win championships Perez is a suitable driver...
No other words necessary Road of Bones 
Much better from Perez! Really enjoyed his battles today....
He's still a little lary though!
He's still a little lary though!
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