OPINION PIT + PADDOCK25 JULY 2019 AUTOSPORT.COM 11eventh place was once the most accursed finishing
position in Formula 1. For more than four decades
it was the difference between the all of a point and
the nothing of a blank. The cruel, hard line between
sixth and seventh hexed many a driver, none more
so than during eight mid-season races in 1992 when Michele
Alboreto took his Footwork to six of them for no reward.
Since 2003, seventh has offered points, but still it remains
an uncomfortable position to be in an era of three teams
monopolising the top six. If you’re seventh, you’ve won the
battle for scraps – a great achievement but hardly nourishing
for the racing driver that lives to win.
Nobody has finished seventh more times in F1 world
championship history than Sergio Perez, with his 19 seventh
places (tied with Fernando Alonso) backed up by the 16 occasions
he has finished in each of eighth, ninth and 10th places. Perez
hasn’t won a race since his final GP2 triumph in Abu Dhabi almost
nine years ago, spending most of his time since in F1’s midfield.
He has been higher, of course, notching up eight podiums and
coming close to winning the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix for Sauber
before running off track while chasing down leader Alonso. But
throughout his eight and a half seasons in F1, Perez has emerged
as the unofficial king of the midfield. It’s not a crown the
SportPesa Racing Point driver embraces.
“It’s funny how people describe me as the king of the midfield,”
laments Perez. “I’ve heard that many times: the king of the
midfield, the king of the midfield... But it’s just what I have,
the machinery. To be at the head of the midfield requires a lot
of speed, a lot of work, a lot of consistency throughout the years.”
Perez is a formidable performer who has produced all that in F1,
particularly since joining his current team in its Force India guise
back in 2014. He has twice finished seventh in the championship
and last season was only seven points behind midfield ‘champion’
Nico Hulkenberg’s stronger Renault package. There’s no doubting
the legitimacy of Perez’s unwanted claim to the midfield crown.
It means, at 29, he is typecast.
He’s had dalliances with F1’s big beasts – in his formative years
he was considered for a Red Bull deal. Later, he was picked up by the
Ferrari driver academy but turned his back on that to move to
a McLaren team that was just starting its sharp decline. He was
rejected there, the result of a team that disliked his attitude and
was perhaps guilty of expecting a 23-year-old in his first season
there to be an unrealistically rounded package. He’d made huge
improvements in that area by the end of 2013, so moved to Force
India for the following season a far more complete driver.
Perez has made significant strides in qualifying performance,
which was an early weakness. But he points to another area where
he feels he’s made significant gains, which also supports the
proposition that he’s evolved a lot since his days when he
frustrated the McLaren engineering team.
“I’ve improved in my technical understanding, that has come up
massively,” says Perez. “You see the young drivers now, they belong
to F1 teams and they grow up. Once they get into F1 they are very
well prepared and I wasn’t on the technical side. That’s the thing
I have improved most, understanding, tyres, engineering, set-ups.
“That has helped me to grow in every area. Also, getting
stronger at my strengths, which is my race pace for example,
understanding why it is good or why it is bad, and working with
the tyres. I’ve grown a lot probably more than others because
I was so unprepared when I came into F1.”
Race pace has always been a strength, and laid the foundations
for some eyecatching results in his Sauber days – albeit usually
the consequence of going on to an alternate strategy after poor
qualifying. Key to these performances has been his outstanding
tyre management, thanks to his ability to sense the traction
and minimise tyre slip.
Perez is now a consistently good qualifier, is strong in the races
and has shown he has the capacity to drag the best out of the
machinery at his disposal. And yet, when top drives crop up,
he is never more than an outside contender on the shortlist.
While Perez is not quite in the elite group of drivers, there’s no
doubt he’d be capable of winning races and being an outstanding
number two driver. And given his capacity for self-improvement,
he could well further build on that in a top team. It would be
unfortunate if he never has a shot at victories. Right now, his best
chance seems to be staying with Racing Point for the long-haul.
“We all dream to be there but I’m a very realistic person, I know
that the opportunity might or might not come so I’m not obsessed
with it,” says Perez. “I’m just enjoying my time and making sure
I maximise every opportunity I get. It doesn’t matter if it’s in
the midfield or the top field.
“The only difference that distinguishes the driver that wins
the race or the one that finishes seventh is the car.”Access to Sergio Perez was facilitated by SportPesa.ukSergio Perez doesn’t enjoy his tag as ‘king of the midfield’ in Formula 1,
but reaching that position is a tough enough job in itself
EDD STRAWHow to be best of the rest
“Perez has shown he has the
capacity to drag the best out of
the machinery at his disposal”
S