Sergio Perez has claimed just three-tenths of a second would cover the Formula 1 grid if every driver had the same car.
The Mexican is among several drivers to have spent most of his career in the midfield, despite managing nine podiums and racing with McLaren in 2013.
As a result, he has been one of the more vocal critics of today’s sport and the exclusivity of wins and podiums to just the top three teams.
“It is something bad for the sport and bad for drivers. You have fantastic drivers that have never been on a single podium. That is crazy to hear,” he told GPFans.com at the British GP.
“Between the best and the worst [drivers], it is three tenths. In between the best and the worst car it is more than three seconds.
“So, it is something fundamentally wrong.”
Also Read:
- Self-serving F1 teams need to consider the sport’s future – Perez
- Perez: F1 must become a drivers’ championship again
- F1 needs ‘immediate change’ to stop midfield drivers getting bored – Sainz
Currently, Perez finds himself in the process of rebuilding Racing Point after the team was taken over by Lawrence Stroll last summer, and has struggled for strong results with a pointless streak stretching back to Baku.
However, with a major upgrade expected either at Hockenheim or Hungaroring, the next few races will be crucial to their season.
“We want to finish fourth. Things happen really quickly so it only takes a little bit of improvement,” he said laying out the team’s target.
“Until it’s over, it’s [not] over, but we are aiming to finish fourth. We can catch McLaren.”
Checo did admit, however, most of the attention was on trying to be ready to capitalise on 2021.
“I think we should be making progress next year, but obviously the big momentum shift is for ’21,” he conceded.
“We should be looking at that and trying to make a massive difference.”