Although he was the victim of a technical disqualification in last weekend’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Sergio Perez did enough on his Formula One debut to convince most observers he has the potential to be a great star of the future.
The 21-year-old Mexican finished seventh in the race before being excluded when his Sauber team’s cars were found to have carried rear wings that infringed the technical regulations.
It was a pity that a superb first outing by such a young driver was not rewarded with points, but Perez did enough to make the paddock’s old hawks tip him for a bright future and mark him down as a possible future champion.
“He was very impressive in all aspects of the job,” said his team boss Peter Sauber, himself no slouch in identifying future stars — having picked aces, such as Finn Kimi Raikkonen and Brazilian Felipe Massa, to race for his team as youngsters in the past.
Indeed, Sauber selected Raikkonen when most paddock regulars regarded him as a risk because he had not done enough kilometer to earn a super-license. The Finn went on to win the world title with Ferrari — and veteran team boss Sauber obviously believes Perez could do the same.
His performance “was truly outstanding,” Sauber said of the Mexican rookie, who drove excellently throughout the weekend, making light of the huge challenge.
Perez was the only driver who managed to complete the race using a one-stop strategy and by running for more than 30 laps on a set of used soft tires.
“I was really surprised and amazed by that, but I had a feeling he was going to be a special kind of driver,” Sauber said. “We followed him the last season in GP2 and he did a good job — and also during the pre-season tests we were happy with him — but in this Melbourne race he was outstanding. To drive more than 35 laps on used tires like that, well, that is incredible.”
The team had not even considered that a one-stop strategy on the new-for-this season Pirelli tires was realistic.
“For us, it was never a decision,” Sauber said. “It was a no-goer. It was absolutely clear to do a second or third stop and we looked for a window, but then his times were so good — so after 40 laps we spoke about it. Maybe it is possible we said and then the race engineer spoke with Sergio and he said yes maybe it is possible to drive to the end. And he did. Amazing.”
The Sauber team’s accomplished and respected technical director James Key was also full of praise for F1’s new Mexican rookie hero.
“What he did was outstanding for a rookie driver in his first race. We felt he was quick anyway, but I think to be faced to do 38 laps on a soft tire which no one believed possible was outstanding,” Key said.
The Mexican, who only turned 21 in January, is the youngest of four F1 rookies who made their debuts at Albert Park. He shone, behaving with a measured maturity in and out of his Sauber car.
The highly-rated youngster from Guadalajara, where a crowd of more than 150,000 turned out to see him drive a demonstration car in the streets earlier this year, did his home city and his nation proud.
Perez is the first Mexican in F1 for three decades from a nation that still reveres memories of the great Rodriguez brothers Pedro and Ricardo.
Both had associations with Ferrari, colorful careers and perished in racing cars, Ricardo during practice for his home Mexico City race in 1962 and Pedro in a sports prototype event in Germany in 1971.
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