Sergio Perez is certainly enjoying the 2020 Racing Point car, describing as his “most solid package to start the season”.
Following on from a strong first week, the Mexican was near the top of the timesheet again on the opening day of the second Formula 1 test in Barcelona, finishing third.
And while the so-called ‘Pink Mercedes’ might be controversial among its rivals, for Perez, it’s only raising optimism.
“I think this can be the most solid package I’ve had in my career to start the season, I hope in Melbourne that proves to be right,” he said on Wednesday.
“At the moment the car is working well, I think there are good things, good signs, but we’ve got so much work to do before Melbourne so hopefully we can be as prepared as possible.”
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The general consensus is Racing Point will start the 2020 season battling with McLaren and Renault for ‘best of the rest’ in the midfield, but Perez isn’t making predictions yet.
“I think the top teams are still very strong, it’s very difficult to figure out where everyone is,” he claimed.
“I think by the end of testing we will have a bigger picture, but the more you try to look into the times, the more you waste your time so we’ve got to wait for the next few days and see where everyone is, when they do more long-running it’s a bit easier to figure out.”
But while Racing Point might be looking the strongest they ever had in testing, Checo knows it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.
“I think we’ve never been this prepared before. We always tend to come back in the second half of the season, so I think it will be the first time we can start a stronger season,” he said.
“I think there is no reason why they [Racing Point’s rivals] should have fear as you say, but we have to wait and see where everyone is in Melbourne.
“I believe there is a strong competition in that midfield group and we know it will get stronger as the season progresses.
“It’s not important where you start in Melbourne it’s where you finish in Abu Dhabi, as I always say, so we have a long season ahead of us.”