Sergio Pérez is “massively underrated”, and “one of the best” currently on the Formula 1 grid, according to Racing Point F1 Team‘s technical director, Andrew Green.
The Mexican racer has been one of those who performed consistently in the midfield, finishing in seventh place in last year’s Championship standings.
Since his F1 début in 2011, it has been evident he is a driver which excellent tyre management skills.
“He’s massively underrated. I think he’s absolutely at the peak of his career now, he’s not fazed by anything,” said Green, speaking on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast.
“His feedback has always been amazing, his mental capacity to drive the car and feed back on what the car is doing – and on a Sunday afternoon with the race around him – means for me he is one of the best.”
He added: “His tyre management is in the top two or three on the grid, there’s not many who can do better. He just has that feeling as he goes into the corner of what the tyre’s doing, what it needs, what he needs out of it.
“His slip control on the throttle coming out of the corners is just remarkable, it’s like he’s got built-in traction control.”
Despite usually putting in an exceptional performance in the race on Sunday, he sometimes does not always deliver his best performance in qualifying on Saturday, which Green believes is due to his choice of car setup and being more focused on the race.
“He understands that his weakness is a Saturday afternoon in qualifying.
“But I think part of that is driven by the fact that he likes to set the car up for his driving style on a Sunday afternoon. And sometimes that isn’t always the quickest way to set your car up on a Saturday afternoon.
“But he’s absolutely insistent, ‘this is the way I want it’. And I think time and time again, he’s proven to be right,” he said.
