Around this time, last year.. It was announced that Lewis Hamilton would be making his move from McLaren-Mercedes to Mercedes-Mercedes. It was also announced that the person taking his place would be the young driver from Sauber: Sergio Perez.
With the 2013 F1 season almost over, I thought it was time to take a look back at how Perez has done so far. The 23 year old from Guadalajara, Mexico, proved his talent when he scored 3 Podiums while on the Sauber team. He'd been with the team since 2011 and was already racing like a winner. Sergio expressed his excitement after finding out his McLaren news. He was eager to start racing with them and was looking forward for the 2013 season to begin.
But things have not been easy for Perez. The McLaren MP4-28 wasn't in the shape it should've been for the start of the season. The team admitted to thinking maybe some things were wrong with the car and they knew they needed to see what they could do to fix them before the first race in Australia.
After Winter-Testing, come March, it was time for the teams to head to Melbourne. Sergio started 15th on the grid and finished in 11th. Then in Malaysia for the Second race of the season, he both started from and finished in 9th, where he got his first points with McLaren. It overall wasn't a bad way to start the season.
The third race took place in China. He again finished in 11th. McLaren were making what changes they could, to help both Perez and Button get more points and a chance at the podium. The 4th race was in Bahrain, where during the race, Sergio Perez and his team mate, Jenson Button, got into a bit of a Wheel-To-Wheel battle, both trying to pass one another. They clipped wheels a few times, before Sergio cruised ahead to finish in 6th, gaining more points.
The two talked the situation over, later on with Team Principal, Martin Whitmarsh... With no hard feelings between the two, there was no drama brought to the 5th race, in Spain, where Perez finished in the points again, in 9th.
The next race was in Monte Carlo, Monaco. A circuit Perez was all-too-familiar with.. And not in a good way. In 2011, driving his Sauber, he missed the Chicane and his car spun and hit a barrier. He was taken to the hospital overnight, suffering from and injured thigh and a concussion. This year, he didn't have any serious accident, but did have a tough passing battle with Lotus Driver, Kimi Raikkonen. During this, Raikkonen squeezed Sergio up again the rail, during which, pieces flew off of the McLaren. A few laps later, the team told Perez he needed to retire the car because his breaks had failed, making the car unsafe to drive. Because he had completed more than 90% of the race, he still qualified as finishing in 16th.
After the race, Kimi took to the press to say that Perez had ruined his race and that maybe he should be "Punched in the face." - But, Perez felt no need to make any comment back towards Kimi, but instead publicly explained the whole situation in a very professional manner.
In the next race, which was held in Canada, Perez finished in 11th. The race after that was hectic. Silverstone, during a practice Session, Perez had a tyre explode into pieces. Pirelli looked into it and assured everyone that the tyres were safe and that there was no need for concern or stress. But during the race, Sergio and more than 3 others all had tyres explode during the race. Some went on to finish the race, but for Perez, it was over. They retired his car, due to the explosion causing other damage to the front of the McLaren. He still finished over 90%% of the race again and was qualified as finishing in 20th.
Happy to get back to finishing in the points, he recieved more after placing 8th in the German GP, then again in Hungary, finishing 9th, giving him a double consecutive points finish. Things were looking pretty good again. Perez was eager to come back even stronger after the Summer Break. The race that started off the Second-Half of the season took place in Belgium. He ended up finishing just behind the points, in 11th. Then in Italy, he paced in 12th. It was disappointing for him after he'd finished on the Podium there last year.
Come Singapore, Perez was back in the points after crossing the Finish Line in 8th. And then he kept up his pace in Korea, finishing in 10th and just nabbing that last Championship Point.
In the latest race, which was in Japan, Perez was holding 5th/6th pretty much during the whole race. Unluckily, Nico Rosberg made contact with the McLaren and Sergios tyes exploded. He ended up finishing 15th.
With 4 races to go, he still has a good chance of getting more points and a possible podium finish.
Article Written By: Amy Hawk.
