McLaren are fully behind Sergio Perez’s aggressive driving style according to sporting director Sam Michael, despite a wave of recent criticism leveled at the Mexican.
Fernando Alonso and his own team-mate Jenson Button have complained about the 23-year-old already this season, and most recently Kimi Raikkonen said the McLaren driver needed punching in the face to teach him a lesson after they clashed in Monaco.
Michael though says the team are completely behind the youngster who is still settling into the sport and his new team.
“Ultimately he is a racing driver and he is just racing,” said Michael during a Vodafone McLaren phone-in.
“McLaren supports the way that he is racing at the moment what he’s doing; we are fully behind him.
“All the moves he did are all moves that have been done by all of those drivers at various points of their careers – some not that long ago.
“The overtaking opportunities that are available at the Monaco chicane are ones that have been used for a long time before Checo was even born, so it’s not the case [that] he was applying them as something new.
“He is racing for his position and establishing himself. The racing he is doing, all those other drivers have done themselves. That’s Formula 1.”
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