Why Sergio Perez Will Be the Driver to Watch at the Canadian GP
Twelve months ago, Sergio Perez crashed out of Formula One's Canadian Grand Prix on the final lap. His clumsy move to defend fourth place from Felipe Massa's attack sent both men into the wall and out of the race.
The stewards investigated, placed the blame for the collision firmly at Perez's door and gave him a five-place grid penalty for the next race.
Amid the very public war of words that followed—in which both drivers and teams had their say—it was easy to forget that until that single incident on the very last lap, Perez had driven one of his best races of the season.
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One-stopping as those around him went for two, Perez had forced his way from 13th on the grid into podium contention. Had his Force India possessed just a 10th or two more pace through the middle sector—and had it not developed braking and electrical problems, later reported by Autosport—he could even have won his first grand prix.
And as we return to Quebec for this year's Canadian Grand Prix, there's every reason to suspect we're in for another top-drawer display from the Mexican in Montreal.
Perez heads into the race on a high after producing his best performance of the season in Monaco. He qualified a brilliant seventh in a car that had little business being anywhere in the top 10, then followed it up with a calm and mature race drive to finish where he started.
That he scored six points in a relatively underdeveloped Force India is alone worthy of praise, but when the safety car came out on Lap 64, Perez was just 17 seconds down on the leading Red Bull.
Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari was little more than 15 seconds up the road from the Mexican. Perhaps different drivers were managing their tyres and pace at varying levels, but to be that close to such quick cars is still a real achievement.
Even Mercedes felt compelled to give him a mention:
The Monaco result was unexpected because it's a circuit that lessens the impact of the engine and exposes the flaws in a chassis. Force India's Mercedes engine is one of their most powerful weapons, but the VJM08 is nowhere near the finished product.
As revealed by team principal Vijay Mallya in May when speaking to the official F1 website, the team's "real" 2015 car isn't due to hit the track until the British Grand Prix. The car currently being run is a semi-developed "A-spec" machine—undoubtedly slower and with less downforce and finesse than the new car will have.
At least, that's the theory, and Force India's lack of competitiveness at the Circuit de Catalunya—considered the ultimate all-round test of a car's aerodynamic ability—lends weight to this.
But the car seemed at home around the low-speed corners of the slippery Monaco track. It can attack kerbs, has good traction and enjoys the soft and super-soft compounds.
This suggests Force India will also be comfortable in the slow turns of low-grip Montreal—and with a Mercedes power unit hurling the cars along the long straights, they should again be in points contention.
Team principal Mallya certainly feels this way, saying on the team's website:
"The team is in a good place as we head to Canada. We’ve often gone well in Montreal and it’s one of those races where anything can happen—as we saw last year with Sergio challenging for the victory. The track layout means it should be one of our better circuits so it’s another opportunity to continue our fight for fifth place in the championship.
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Perez, basking in the confident glow of his Monaco result, added:
"I’m very positive at the moment. I feel I’m driving at my best and getting the most from every race. Monaco was pretty much a perfect weekend in terms of maximising our potential. I don’t think I could have come away with more from that race. So it was a very satisfying result for the whole team.
Montreal is one of my favourite tracks. I still remember my podium there in 2012—that was such a special result. Last year’s race was also one of my best, until the final lap! It was a race we had a real chance to win, but things just didn’t go our way in the end.
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But even if Force India perform as well as they expect, they'll still be in the midfield, and the scrap between the fifth- and ninth-quickest cars will still be very tight.
Toro Rosso may struggle with their Renault power unit, and McLaren are likely to suffer from their Honda's lack of horsepower, but Sauber and Lotus should be competitive.
In this very close battle—which may also include Red Bull, if they have a bad weekend—it will fall to the drivers to make a difference.
The likes of Nico Hulkenberg, Romain Grosjean and Felipe Nasr are fine drivers who can be worth a place or three at the end of a race. But since the middle of 2014, Perez has been busy proving himself a very good driver too.
If anything he has outperformed highly rated team-mate Hulkenberg over the last year—and the Mexican has an additional, not-so-secret weapon up his sleeve that has served him well in the past.
Perez has a driving style that allows him to make his rear tyres last appreciably longer than his rivals. This ability often allows him to make fewer stops at certain circuits than others while remaining competitive.
His "tyre-whispering" skill was commented on during his very first F1 race. Following the 2011 Australian Grand Prix, in which Perez was the only driver to do a one-stop strategy (some did three), the Guardian quoted Pirelli boss Paul Hembery saying:
"We were looking and we all thought, "He must come in. He's got to come in. What's he doing?" We thought the data men must be wrong and he must have had a stop and no one saw it. We checked. We asked, are you sure? And we were told, "Yes, he's done just one stop." It was quite a surprise and very exciting.
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But it became most glaringly apparent during the 2012 season, in which Perez claimed three podium finishes—including a fine third place on his race debut (he missed the 2011 race) in Canada.
Having started 14th on the grid, Perez made up a few places at the start before settling in for a very long opening stint on the soft compound tyres. As the front-runners pitted to change from super-softs (and some from softs), Perez stayed out and rose to fifth.
He could have gone quicker, but Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus was using the same strategy. F1 Fanatic's lap chart shows the Finn held Perez up for a little over 10 laps, but when both stopped, the then-Sauber man emerged ahead, 33 seconds off the lead.
Now on the more rapid super-soft tyres, Perez spent a few laps behind Nico Rosberg before getting by and starting to close on the cars ahead.
Amid a chaotic end to the race that saw a number of drivers discover they either needed to nurse their rubber or make an extra stop, Perez kept his tyres alive and came through to take third place, just five seconds down on the winner.
Had he not lost time behind Raikkonen and Rosberg, he could even have won.
Perez was able to do this because Montreal is a very rear-limited circuit—wear to the rear tyres determines how long each set will last and is therefore the primary factor in tyre strategy.
His driving style, aided by the tyre-kind Sauber, allowed him to keep his tyres in good condition despite his stints being longer. Per F1 Fanatic, his fastest lap came on the 67th tour. By then, his super-softs were 25 laps old.
Most of the other drivers had discarded theirs before they came close to reaching that age.
Later in the season, more excellent tyre management saw Perez come home in second at the Italian Grand Prix—another rear-limited circuit. The Sauber C31 being such a good car certainly helped, but Perez's own input was significant.
Since then, Perez has consistently performed at his best on rear-limited tracks with his fourth career podium, at the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix, the highlight. The Canadian race of that year would have been another, but for that one silly mistake.
This weekend's race isn't expected to have the high temperatures of 2012, and the Force India isn't as competitive as the Sauber C31—Perez will not be fighting for the podium.
Providing no one crashes or breaks down, the top six will be the two Mercedes, two Ferraris and two Williams. They have the raw pace to start at the front and sufficient straight-line speed to scythe past any potentially troublesome one-stoppers.
But behind them there should be a lot of points up for grabs. Two stops should be the most common strategy, and it's hard to see the Renault-powered cars having enough grunt to overtake a slightly slower Force India.
A one-stopping racer, managing his tyres well and driving a car with a powerful engine, has the chance to grab seventh—or higher, should those in front hit trouble.
With a strong history at the circuit and a proven ability to make his tyres last, Perez, currently in the best form of his career, is well-placed to be that man.
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