Recently Stefano Domenicali said that he believed the right combination for the future of Ferrari was to have "one well established driver with great experience, alongside a talented youngster on the way up". This was released on Ferrari's official website so this was very deliberate. The "well established driver" is clearly Fernando Alonso as he's effectively the team leader and has a contract until 2016. The interesting part was what (or who) he was talking about when he spoke of the talented youngster. By saying the word "youngster" he pretty much confirmed that Ferrari won't offer Massa a new contract after 2012. From that you could infer that the talented younger will join Alonso at Ferrari in 2013. So who are the contenders for this seat? Realistically there are only two people from Ferrari's driver academy that they would sign: Jules Bianchi and Sergio Perez. Their head-to-head challenge might turn out to be very important. Jules Bianchi is a very talented driver but he hasn't delivered the results in GP2 that many were expecting. I hear he's also quite error prone but as I haven't seen enough of him I can't back that claim. He's still very quick and does straight line tests at Vairano and tests older Ferrari F1 cars at Fiorano in addition to his work in the simulator. He will certainly be well-prepared if he get's the job, but he would still be a rookie and will Ferrari want to risk signing a rookie? They haven't done so in the past. Even if he were to secure a place on the grid next year his chances of becoming a Ferrari driver in 2013 are slim, but a season of experience under his belt would do him a lot of good. His best chance of getting an F1 drive in 2012 is with Sauber but they have no driver vacancies. Unless Ferrari pay HRT like Red Bull did with Ricciardo, I can't see Bianchi in F1 next year and for me that would completely rule out his chances of getting the 2013 Ferrari seat. That leaves Sergio Perez. He is already "exceeding expectations" in his rookie year according to Peter Sauber and drove an excellent maiden race. He is very consistent in the races and when you watch his onboard footage he makes the car look so easy to drive. He is arguably the most complete rookie on the grid and I would go as far as to say that Perez is already on par with Nico Rosberg. Kobayashi is a strong teammate and his aggressive style would suggest that his speed over one lap is one of his stronger points, but despite that Perez is winning the qualifying battle. Kobayashi recently said: This shows a weakness in Kobayashi's ability but more importantly that Perez has the ability to adapt his style to get the most out of his car - something which his more experienced teammate cannot do. For most of the races this year, Perez has finished above his qualifying position and that's quite an achievement when you take into account the fact that Sauber usually put him on unorthodox strategies that force him to run the prime tyre for a lot longer than others. Another interesting thing that caught my eye was his relationship with Fernando Alonso. In this interview he mentions that Alonso is the only driver that gave him advice. Why would Fernando want to help Perez and why was Alonso the only driver? Perhaps it's because Alonso knows Perez is the favourite to become his teammate. Assuming Perez drives for Ferrari in 2013... Alonso is generally regarded as the most complete driver on the grid, so Perez will learn a lot from him and use this to his advantage in later years. When Alonso's contract runs out, Perez will replace Alonso as the "well established driver" and it will be his turn to lead Ferrari back to victory. He's already made a great first impression and proven himself as a consistent performer. Although there are several areas of his driving ability that haven't been properly tested yet, he's had a very impressive year so far and should continue to become a lot stronger. No doubt he has a bright future ahead of him and I believe that one day he will be the benchmark for other drivers.
Very well written article. I expect Perez to end up at Ferrari, I don't think he'll be a World Champion though. You mention how easy he makes the car look to drive, to me he always looks like he doesn't attack enough. Mario Andretti said "If everything seems to be under control, you're not going fast enough." I feel this applies to Perez. This is quite harsh, but based on Montreal I don't think he has the right mentality to be champion. We saw Webber last year have a huge crash in Valencia and then win the next race, Kubica has had some big shunts and came back with a strong performance, as did Alonso in 2003. Even that weekend Vettel stacked it in practice and had the confidence to keep pushing to the limit once his car was fixed, like Hamilton did in Suzuka last year. Coulthard and Jordan praised him saying that most racing drivers wouldn't have been brave enough in the same situation to do the sensible thing, and they're right, because racing drivers, the best ones, aren't sensible. I think all round Perez just lacks aggression, both in his style and his mentality. I know he's young, but IMO it's easier to teach a fast driver to be consistent, than it is to teach a consistent one to be fast.
Perez is just stepping on egg shells at the moment and not trying to piss off the team principal. Not every future world champion jumps onto the screen like Lewis did, people are different and has nothing not to do with "raw talent". When he establishes himself more, then! he will be able to push his luck once in a while. The best is yet to come from Sergio, you just have to look at some of the GP2 races he did going up the field "Senna style" [video=youtube;5OelpSBab1c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OelpSBab1c[/video] It's great that people are already critical of a 21 year old, shows how much respect he already has and how well he will do in the future.
I think at the moment it is too early to judge Perez properly, however he has showed some promise, is it championship material promise? Well at the moment I am sure. I think that he is on a bit of a fine line in regards to him being good enough to drive for the likes of Ferrari or being a bit of a Heidfeld, and no doubt the rest of the season and the following season will help suggest which side of the line he will tip over to. Personally I feel 2013 might come a bit early for Perez and Ferrari which would mean he will of had only two season in F1 which is still fairly inexpeienced especially when going to Ferrari and also going up against Alonso depending on how that relationship will work. If Alonso would be willing to act as a sort of mentor to Perez then perhaps it is worth Ferrari hiring against their norms this time. Otherwise I think that they should hire someone like Rosberg in 2012/2013 to give him his chance. If Rosberg develops and performs well then you have got a young driver who can challenge for wins and help Ferrari challenge for the WCC. If he stays at the same level then you have got driver that will score solid points and also a stopgap to give Perez more time to develop and gain experience.
I think he is good, but for some reason I think he won't be able to cut it big time. However he drives superbly well when he needs to do 30 laps on say for instance the Super Softs, I can count on him to do that. His tyre management is good, Qualifying good, however on race day the strategy has been ridiculous which has let him down quite a lot. I think a step to Ferrari in 2013 would be too soon maybe 2015, but by 2013 he might be ready. World Championship Material?? Maybe, but let's see what he can do at Sauber for a couple of years.
Good article. Perez has definitely been the best rookie this year- just think of his fantastic debut in Melbourne. However, I too, feel that Sauber's ludicrous race strategy is costing him dear. A 'normal' strategy would probably have left him with better results than what he's already achieved. Also, I can't remember him making a single major error, which is remarkable considering his rather erratic early British F3 days. He's definitely one to watch!
He might not attack as much as the more aggressive drivers, but in his defence Sauber give him ridiculous strategies where he has no choice but to manage the tyres and drive sensibly. At least Perez can adapt to get the most out of any strategy the team put him on - I can't say the same for at least 1 F1 driver in a top team. I'd like to see some onboard footage of Perez in qualifying, but I can't find any. The important thing for now is that his performances this year earned him a 2012 contract. As the video in SilverArrow's post shows, he has the speed and the overtaking skills to compete with the best - he just needs a better car and more time to prove himself.
I can't see him succeeding in a ferrari. He isn't fast enough. Paul Di Resta is a far better driver than Perez.
I'm sure Perez will surpass Di resta when he gets more F1 miles under him. Seem to be forgetting that Paul was an extensive test driver for Force India last year while Sergio was in GP2. So Paul isn't really a f1 rookie, while Perez is.
An excellent article Forza: you make a very strong case for Perez, who I also believe is Massa's most likely successor. I'm not quite in perfect agreement about him being the best rookie, but I repeat, you make some very good points and I have been mightily impressed with his performances and over all presentation, very similar in fact, to the guy I think has just out-rookied him: Paul di Resta. But their careers are heading in different directions and di Resta is potentially Perez's arch-rival of the future if they both keep on exceeding expectations.
I don't think that's significant given those Friday practises were on Bridgestone rubber. Every little helps experience wise, but the switch to Pirelli tyres has given them all a bit of a reset and is one of the main reasons the rookies have been able to get on top of their team mates so quickly. Also, Di Resta's years in DTM mean he's unfamiliar with a lot of the tracks, the GP2 calendar closely mimics the F1 calendar, so Perez at least has experience of driving these circuits in a single seater. I think PDR's had more to get used to than Perez.
This thread has been a thoroughly good read, some top quallity posts! I would love to see Perez drive for Ferrari as I rate him very highly, and it says a lot about Ferrari's confidence in his ability if they are considering him so soon - bearing in mind next year's car will (hopefully) be able to start challenging in earnest. It might not be something Ferrari have done before either, bringing in less established drivers, but this could well be the making of him.
