Perez pulls no punches on arrival at Mclaren
MEXICAN Sergio Perez turned up for his first day at work at McLaren yesterday with his sights set on adding his name to the team’s roll call of Formula One champions.
“As soon as you walk in through this door you see these great names, these great cars,” said the 22-yearold, who arrived at the factory in a £195,000 orange McLaren MP4-12C Spider convertible.
“There is so much history in this team that it makes you feel great. This is a dream come true for myself to be able to drive for such a team.”
Perez replaces 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton, who has moved to Mercedes, alongside 2009 title winner Jenson Button at the British-based team.
Perez joins a team whose cars – driven over the years by champions such as Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Niki Lauda and James Hunt – are on display in a futuristic factory atrium that also has cabinets full of silverware from the team’s 182 race wins since 1968.
The Mexican, who failed to score any points in his last six races for midtable Sauber, recognised they were big shoes to fill but made it clear he was aiming for the top right from the start.
“When you come into McLaren this has to be your target,” he said when asked about winning the cham- pionship. “Otherwise you should not join McLaren because here everybody is working for that goal. So I am coming here to do the same, to work for that goal.
“It’s difficult to set a target from the start of the season. To tell you that I will be on pole in Melbourne will be very difficult for me to know,” added the youngster, who was greeted by team principal Martin Whitmarsh in front of the world’s media. – Reuters