“Perez has been very polite so far this year, I think he
needs to toughen up.” Martin Whitmarsh
Never have any words been taken more literally than those
spoken by the McLaren Team Principal.
Struggling to establish himself as a contender amongst the lions in the
top teams following his move from Sauber, Sergio was given this advice to help
him ensconce himself in the pride to ensure he scores more points. Checo has certainly initiated himself in the
hunt with the resulting spirited approach, however it has been more akin to
that of a wildcat than a courageous lion.
Perez stepped on the toes of Kimi Raikkonen in China, moving
across the track in front of him resulting in a trip onto the grass and damage
to the nose of the Lotus. He also
managed to anger Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton in the same race. Daring to battle the patriarchs for top
finishes in a race will always cause friction.
When Michael Schumacher roared onto the Formula One scene his sights
were firmly set on taking the challenge to the leader of the pack and triple
world champion, Ayrton Senna. He was on
a crusade to beat the best. With such
vigour for combat, the possibility of bloodshed is inevitable. The inevitable happened at the French Grand
Prix in 1992 when the two collided.
After the race Senna sought out the young German for a private conversation
about the incident. Schumacher admitted
blame for the incident and during a recorded interview for the Tri Senna
campaign revealed,
“The main reason he came to see me was to ask if we had any
problems in the future, we should talk in person, not complain to the
press.”
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| Senna and Schumacher after the incident at Magny Cours in 1992. Photo: www.dreysports.com |
Since Bahrain, Sergio Perez has shown that he intends to
fight for his place, assert his authority no matter who may be in the way
starting with his ex World Champion teammate, Jenson Button. Battling for fifth place Perez launched an
onslaught on Jenson as fans were treated to lap after lap of thrilling tyre to
tyre tumult. Like Senna with Schumacher,
although not privately, Jenson voiced his opinion on the situation after the
race,
“I’m not used to driving down a straight and having your
team mate wiggling his wheels at you and banging wheels at 300kmh. That’s things you do in karting but grow out
of it. Not the case with Checo.”
Not content with angering the experienced lions just once,
Perez continued his racier form in Monaco as he made a daring move on Fernando
Alonso at the harbourside chicane causing the Ferrari driver to cut the corner
to avoid contact. Later in the race, a
challenge by the Mexican on Raikkonen for fifth place resulted in contact at
the chicane meaning a trip to the pits for Kimi to replace a punctured
tyre. Clearly angered, Kimi said after
the race,
“He hit me from behind and that’s all there is to it. If he thinks it’s my fault that he came into
the corner too fast then he obviously has no idea what he’s talking about.”
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| Perez and Raikkonen in Monaco. Photo: www. derapate.it |
Fernando Alonso’s views were slightly less heated but his
similar displeasure can be read in the words,
“He was lucky this year in two or three incidents. In Bahrain there was nearly contact with
Jenson, with me I was off the track avoiding contact. Here at the chicane I avoided contact, but
Kimi was not lucky because he didn’t avoid the contact. But only McLaren have to be happy with him.”
Just as Ayrton Senna was threatened by young talent
challenging him, so are the numerous world Champions we are privileged to have
on the grid today. Although not having
the ‘private chat’ Ayrton had with the young Schumacher, words from Jenson,
Fernando and Kimi demonstrate the same principle, trying to put the young pretender
in his place, but by doing so revealing a slight insecurity about what the
future might hold.
Speaking after the race in China where the Perez ‘affair’
started, Martin Whitmarsh also said,
“Afterwards I said you have to be racing and sometimes that
means you’ve got elbows and you’ve got to be robust without being dirty.”
In a season where ‘real’ racing seems to have given way to
careful preservation of tyres, Sergio’s spicier style has heated things up
reminding us what racing and Formula One should really be about. As long as he keeps it clean we look forward
to more passes from Perez.
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