Sergio Perez has again praised Racing Point teammate Lance Stroll by suggesting his race pace is better than his past two partners.
In Australia, the Mexican admitted he was surprised by the former Williams driver both in terms of pace and feedback and was confident together they can push the team forward.
Then, in the race, Stroll made up for a disappointing qualifying by moving upto P9 in the race while Perez slipped outside the top 10 despite making Q3.
That performance also caught the attention of the man they call ‘Checo’.
“In a way, Esteban [Ocon] and Nico [Hulkenberg] were quite similar in their approach and they always seemed to struggle a lot with race pace,” he commented in Bahrain on Thursday.
“But with Lance, his race pace is, from all the teammates, the closest to mine.
“He’s already, on Sundays, quite good. I was quite surprised because going for a long run I seemed to find it a bit easier with my previous teammates, but it’s not the case now.
“He [Stroll] has a good understanding for Sundays. It’s good, it’s what you need to score points, especially with this tight midfield.”
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Perez is already well aware of the tag attached to the Canadian as a simple ‘pay driver’ is unfounded and now thinks Racing Point’s target for 2019 is much more attainable.
“It just proves that it’s so hard to judge someone,” he said, referencing Stroll’s poor results last year. “It’s so much related to your car performance in F1.
“He has the speed, the talent. He works hard. I think he’s going to be constantly scoring points, which is great for the team.
“To finish fourth in the constructors you need both cars to score points every weekend.
“He got the maximum out of the car, together with the team and strategy [in Australia]. It’s what we need from now to Abu Dhabi.”
