McLaren happy with Sergio Perez's improvement

Perez during this year’s Chinese Grand Prix

McLaren team boss insists that Sergio Perez is ‘working in a positive direction’ and showing why the Woking-based team chose him as its replacement for Lewis Hamilton.

After a difficult start to the campaign, Perez picked up his first top six finish in Bahrain and then out-qualified team-mate Jenson Button for the first time in Spain last time out.

With three top ten finishes to his name so far, the Mexican sits just five points behind Button in the standings and while neither has been able to challenge at the front as McLaren deal with a raft of issues with the MP4-28, Whitmarsh insisted that Perez was doing what was expected of him.“Checo is showing the intelligence that we saw in him before,” he told members of the press during the latest Vodafone McLaren Mercedes phone-in. “He has natural pace, he’s growing in confidence and he’s still learning. He’s more than a decade behind Jenson in terms of experience and you can’t acquire that knowledge bank overnight, but I think he’s working in a positive direction and is a good team player.

“We’re really blessed with both drivers because through the difficult times we’ve had so far this year they’ve been incredibly supportive and positive, working hard together and motivating the team. I’m grateful for that and pleased with both of them. We’re very happy with our driver line-up. If we give them a better car – as we aim to – I’m sure we’ll have some better results.”

Whitmarsh added that the last two races had a been a sign of Perez’s growing confidence as he deals with stepping into a top-line F1 team for the first time after two years with Sauber.

“There’s been an enormous amount of pressure,” he said. “He didn’t make any mistakes in the early races, but then I think he was very conscious not to make mistakes.

“I sense now that he’s stepped it up – in the race before last he outraced Jenson and I think that was good for his confidence, even though it wasn’t always good for my heart watching! His qualifying performance in Q2 in Spain was him stepping it up again, and that’s what he has to do.

It hasn’t been a great few months for McLaren fans, but Jenson Button is determined to put a smile on their faces by the time the British GP comes around.

“I noticed in the grandstands there were a lot of rocket red (McLaren) caps and Union Jacks,” he is quoted as saying by Press Association Sport.

“That is great to see and they are all so supportive, but you have to feel for them a little.

“You don’t really want to look them in the eye because we know we’re not doing as well as we should be doing.

“So I have to say thank you for all their support and let them know we are doing everything we can to get back to the front.

“I’m hopeful we’re going to keep making steps forward every race we go to so by the time we get to the British Grand Prix we’re parking some good points. That would be great in front of my home crowd.

“That’s what I’m personally hoping for, although obviously I’d like to get better results before that.”

McLaren made some progress at Barcelona as both their cars finished in the top 10, but Button warns that it will take a few races before they will be back up to scratch.

“We’re doing a very good job with what we have, in getting points, and to finish eighth and ninth (in Spain) was not too bad,” added Button.

“We beat a Mercedes, we beat a Force India, so it’s not horrendous. We’re not moving forward quick enough, but we’re doing everything we can.

“Obviously beating Force India is not what McLaren is all about, but we’re behind them in the Championship, so that’s what we have to aim for first and then go for bigger targets.

“At least with the new package we have, the exciting thing is it’s a new platform, very similar to what we had last year, and we can build on that a lot easier because we know what we’re doing.

“It’s not going to happen overnight, it’s still tough, but we’re doing what we can.”