Racing Point CEO Otmar Szafnauer has said Sergio Perez was aware his place at the team was at risk, following the driver’s claim he did not expect to be told he had lost his seat.
The team confirmed yesterday Perez will be replaced by Sebastian Vettel for the 2021 F1 season. Perez had signed a three-year contract to remain at Racing Point in the middle of last year.Szafnauer said the suggestion Perez did not realise his seat was in jeopardy is “a bit of a misnomer”. Perez said yesterday he had positive feedback from the team prior to a telephone call from owner Lawrence Stroll on Wednesday in which he was told they were exercising an option to end his contract early.
“He did have an inkling and he did know,” Szafnauer told Sky. “We kept his manager, Julian [Jakobi] informed of the process all the way through.”
“[Perez] was kept aware of what was going on,” Szafnauer added. “What he didn’t know, because the decision wasn’t made, was what the definitive action was going to be.
Szafnauer said it was a credit to Perez that the team took so long to decide to replace him with a driver of Sebastian Vettel’s calibre.
“We’ve been talking to him for quite some time and the decision was made two days ago, the final decision,” he said. “It wasn’t easy.
“Sergio’s served us well. He’s a great racer, he’s a quick driver. He’s a safe pair of hands on a Sunday especially, he doesn’t make many mistakes, he brings the points in. So it wasn’t that easy.
“I think it’s a compliment to Sergio for us to deliberate so long whether to take a four-time world champion with all the experience said Sebastian brings or stay with stay with Sergio. Ultimately with Aston Martin coming in I think it’s the right decision to get the experience that Sebastian brings with the experience of a top team. That’s where Aston Martin aspires to be. So I think we did the right thing.”
The Racing Point CEO did not elaborate on exactly how Perez was extracted from the deal he signed in the summer of 2019. “Contract stuff is confidential so we don’t like to talk about that,” he said. “But you can imagine there are options in there that we either could exercise or couldn’t.
This article will be updated
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
MCBosch (@mcbosch)
11th September 2020, 12:21
oh boy… hopefully this doesn’t turn into a sour last 9 races.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
11th September 2020, 12:22
Or alternatively:
It’s an insult to Sergio to replace him rather than Lance Stroll.
Jamal
11th September 2020, 12:28
Lawrence Stroll has the potential to completely destroy F1 and turn it into his playground like nobody who has ever been before. Will be interesting to see if Mercedes pull out a the end of next year and if he buys the team.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
11th September 2020, 12:58
Agreed – at most teams few drivers have earned their spot over a period of 7 years than Checo has. I do agree that he should have been the one to stay with the team but perhaps it’s also time for Checo to look for a new challenge. Staying at Racing Point isn’t really working out wonders for him especially since it was bought out.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
11th September 2020, 13:01
I don’t have much against stroll considering his performance, I think the insult is vettel is even considered superior to any of the force india drivers.
Mayrton
11th September 2020, 12:55
Aware maybe, but also expecting RP mngt to not be utterly nostalgia driven stupid. This has to be one of the worst decisions made after Ferrari making the same mistake when contracting Vettel. The guy is at best mediocre and has only won because of the RB car at that time icw a poor talented Webber. Single lap pace king yes, but not at all in traffic.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
11th September 2020, 13:02
Agree, vettel was never anything special, and the decision doesn’t even make sense for his ambitions: even if you put alonso or hamilton at force india they wouldn’t win, let alone vettel.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
11th September 2020, 13:12
I’ve probably been one of the most vocal critics of Vettel over the years but I’m beginning to realize that it’s not easy to win a single race, let alone a single championship. You can’t win 4 championships by accident – could the same be said of Prost or Senna? Despite what you, I, and others view as fundamental flaws he was still able to win 4 championships very convincingly and fared well at Ferrari in the pre-Binotto era.
He’s definitely the driver most affected by the switch to hybrid engines as we noticed in 2014 against Ricciardo at Red Bull – Raikonnen might be the second on that list.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
11th September 2020, 13:54
Well in 2012 he did fight his way through from 22nd to 6th in order to secure the title!
Cem
12th September 2020, 6:57
That’s a severely irresponsible comment. Sebastian Vettel has been one of the best racers we have ever seen. No one pays 45 million euros per year to a guy who is “mediocre at best”. Yes you are so smart that you could see it but no one in Red Bull, Scuderia Ferrari and Aston Martin are able to see it. This is laughable..
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
11th September 2020, 13:03
Meh, everyone and their mother saw this coming. Feigning surprise now is just for show.
Not sure what the goal of this is? To calm his sponsors?
kyorin
11th September 2020, 13:15
If they had managed to secure Hamilton, I’d have been impressed and could understand dumping Perez, but to replace Perez with Vettel makes no sense to me.
HAL
11th September 2020, 13:22
Obviously Perez was quite aware of what was going on… But, I suppose we all understand Perez’s frustration ; he did not deserve to lose, especially right at the moment were the team is going up. Also, Szafnauer kept repeating they had a contract with Perez, etc etc. For sure he didn’t have much choice than to play that game in front of the camera, but it must have been frustrating for Perez to hear all that BS while knowing what was happening behind the curtain. So I guess this is just a bit of payback, playing the same game. Good chances that he lands at Haas though. RB is a long shot I guess, but that would be a fun turn of events
macrob
11th September 2020, 13:32
As a long time Perez fan and felow Mexican I am disappointed, but at the same time I completely understand the decision. You have to look at the big picture, purely business: Sebastian can help adding way more brand value to Aston Martin than Sergio can, this is clear. This is why the F1 team can afford to lose Perez’s sponsors, paying him a nice exit clause and then hire a driver that would also have a higher salary than Perez. All of this has surely been accounted to run the projections for company valuations. As I said, purely a business decision. And its not entirely Stroll’s decision by the way, AM has more shareholders whom I would assume pushed for this option too. I would too.
Speaking about Lance, the kid has been consistenly getting better every weekend, you can see Perez’s coaching on his performance (contrary to what people may believe, they actually have a very good relationship, Sergio helps Lance out whenever possible). I strongly believe Lance will become a racing driver with very similar qualities as Sergio has, and he is way younger too. Its a good bet for the future. I would have also kept Lance.
I hope Sergio stays in F1 for a couple more years (I really believe he will replace Kimi or Grosjean…), then I would love to see him competing in IndyCar, although he wouldnt stand a chance there having Pato O Ward whom I think will be the next great driver, you’ll see…
BasCB (@bascb)
11th September 2020, 15:57
Well said macrob. For an aspiring factory team hiring a high profile driver makes sense.