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Sergio Perez has been compared to Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna after his spectacular drive to 2nd at Sepang last weekend. The comparison has taken place more so because Sergio mastered the changeable conditions and was able to hurry a double world champion for the win in only his second season in Formula 1.
Ayrton Senna is considered one of the best wet weather drivers the Formula 1 world has ever seen and though statistics don’t favour him, it won’t be a mistake to label him the best Formula 1 driver of all time. His 65 pole positions in 161 starts, second only to Michael Schumacher’s 68 in 289, says it all. Another interesting fact to note about Senna’s superior one-lap pace was that he put the FW16, a car that he was not happy with, on pole during all the three qualifying sessions he competed in the 1994 season.
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His unique ability to find the grip on a wet track made us witness some of the most memorable wet races of all times. To name a few – the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix, 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix and the 1993 European Grand Prix. The 1993 European Grand Prix at Donington Park is considered by many to be Senna’s best first lap ever in a race and also to be his best wet/changeable weather drive throughout his whole career where he finished one a half minutes ahead of the 2nd place car of Damon Hill. He lapped everyone else in the field including that year’s to-be champion Alain Prost, with a McLaren nowhere near the pace of the Williams FW15C , which is considered to be the most technologically advanced race car ever built!
So, it is natural that the people of Latin America want another driver from their region to become a legend especially because they lost their last world champion at the wheel of a racing car and that too when he was at his peak. But Sergio Perez has shrugged off the comparisons by saying “It makes me proud that people compare me to someone like Senna, but I’ve still got a lot to do in my career to receive that kind of praise”.
It is very humble of him to reply like that but we need to see what Perez is capable of doing in a really competitive car, when he is fighting for the world championship. Only then can we decide whether we are seeing a true legend in the making.
