Ross Brawn believes it would be a “tragedy” if Formula 1’s newest race winner Sergio Perez isn’t able to find a seat for 2021.
Perez earned a shock victory in Sunday’s Sakhir Grand Prix, recovering from last place at the end of the first lap to achieve his maiden win after 190 races.
Despite the elation of his claiming his first win, Perez is currently without a drive for next year having been forced out by Racing Point to make way for the arrival of four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.
Perez has long been linked with the second Red Bull sear that is occupied by Alexander Albon, but team boss Christian Horner has indicated he wants to retain Albon for another year.
The Mexican has recently opened up about the possibility to taking a sabbatical, before working on a return in 2022.
Writing in his latest post-race column, F1 boss Brawn reckons Racing Point will be contemplating its decision to let Perez go after his recent impressive run of form.
“We all want to see [Perez] next year,” Brawn said. “It’ll be a tragedy if he can’t get a car. The team must be thinking about the decisions they have made, losing him when he’s driving so well.
“His replacement Sebastian Vettel I’m sure will come back stronger, as he’s in a bit of a trough at the moment, but Checo is a guaranteed deal. So that’ll be interesting to see how that develops. In a way, Seb has some fairly big shoes to fill now, even if he’s a world champion.”
Mercedes stand-in George Russell also earned Brawn’s plaudits, with the Briton having looked on course to win before a mix-up on tyres at his pitstop and a puncture nine laps from the finish.
While Russell admitted losing a potential victory “really bloody hurt”, Brawn felt his display proved he is future champion material.
“George should be very positive about this weekend, despite the disappointing final result,” Brawn said. “He delivered an exceptional performance in pretty challenging circumstances.
“I always thought he was a good Grand Prix driver. We’ve commented before how good he has looked, but you never know if he has that last little bit of speed that marks you out as brilliant driver. George demonstrated that he has got that extra little bit – and a star is born.
“There is now no doubt that he’s F1 world champion material. He didn’t make any mistakes in a challenging situation and all the problems were the team’s, not his. And he drove impeccably until he had the win taken away.
“He will be very frustrated not to have won but I don’t think he should be. He’s registered on the scale now. Any doubts anyone had, will be gone. Clearly he’s exceptional.”
Comments.
Loading comments…