Sergio Perez says he’s ‘amazed’ by the amount of criticism he’s received after the Chinese Grand Prix in which he finished 12th.
The Mexican, who joined McLaren this season after an impressive few seasons at Sauber, has failed to replicate such performances. Much of that can be blamed on the car, yet he has still come under fire.
“I’ve definitely felt the pressure,” said Perez. “At McLaren everyone is watching your performance at every single practice session and every single race.
“I find it quite amazing that after three weekends, when I had two good weekends in terms of maximising the car potential, that after a bad weekend I received so many criticisms.
“But I think this is quite normal and usual for a team like McLaren.”
The 23-year-old isn’t letting it get to him though as he concentrates on the job at hand.
“I’m never thinking about it and if I am totally honest I am not bothered about it. I am here to do my job and I will try my best this weekend and the next 16 weekends. I will keep trying my best on those 16 weekends, which I have been doing up until now.”
He also defended his lack of aggression after team principal Martin Whitmarsh urged Perez to fight harder for positions.
“We had a word about it. It is difficult to judge when you can be aggressive and when not,” he added. “When you are in a different strategy and mainly looking after the tyres, the worst thing you can do is fight someone next to you who is on a different strategy and two or three seconds faster than you. You will wear your tyres out and you are not actually fighting that guy, you are fighting someone who is behind you. It is a difficult balance to judge.”
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