Did Ocon overshadow Perez?

Sergio Perez feels he is not recognized enough for his talent because of comparison with his former teammate, Esteban Ocon.

The Mexican driver finished the season at the eighth place in the drivers’ championship. He was four places and 13 points ahead Ocon and even bagged a podium finish at Azerbaijan.

Perez believes that people don’t value him enough and take him for granted. He said: “It’s like people just get used to me,”

“When I was new here, everyone was talking about me and I was the next big thing, as Esteban is right now.

“Last year [2017] I was best of the rest, I’ve been beating all my teammates I’ve had. So results in the end talk more than what people say.”

Ocon outqualified Perez in almost every race while the Mexican had an upper hand in the race.

 “I think results are clear,” Perez said. “He was the better one in qualifying, although the margin was extremely small.

“It is less than a tenth between us in qualifying. And I was the better one in the races. I got the most points and also the best results.

“But it was really close between us up to now.”

The Mexican acknowledged Ocon’s capability and said the qualifying results were “not a coincidence”.

Explaining his lack of pace, Perez said: “I didn’t feel very confident this year with the car, to be honest,” 

“I did struggle quite a lot throughout the year to balance the car, but I did manage to get the most out of it in the race.

“That’s to take nothing away from him. I didn’t get on with it and he did better in qualifying.

“That’s it. It is up to me and to my team to get the best out of the car

“I think in other years I’ve been more comfortable with the car on Saturday, and [last year] I probably focused quite a bit on Sundays too.”