McLaren new boy Sergio Perez has been told by team boss Martin Whitmarsh to use his elbows and make life harder for Formula One rivals.
“I think he’s been very polite so far this year, I think he needs to toughen up,” Whitmarsh told reporters after the Mexican finished a disappointing 11th in Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.
“I think he’s been generous in allowing people past him. He was a bit more robust in China.”
Perez had a coming together with Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen on the track on lap 16, with the usually glacial Finn sufficiently exercised to exclaim heatedly over the team radio about the youngster’s behaviour.
The incident damaged Raikkonen’s front wing and prevented the 2007 champion challenging for the victory, eventually finishing second behind Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
Stewards looked at the evidence and decided to take no further action rather than punishing Perez for this weekend’s race in Bahrain.
The Mexican, who moved from Sauber as replacement for departed Lewis Hamilton, has scored two points in three races so far. Team-mate Jenson Button was fifth on Sunday and has 12 points to his credit.
“I think it was robust. I’ve seen people weave more than that, if that’s the assertion. He was doing his job, he was racing,” smiled Whitmarsh of his driver’s actions.
Perez’s car was also damaged by the coming together but Whitmarsh said he had told the 23-year-old that he supported what he had done.
“You’ve got to be out there racing and that means sometimes you’ve got elbows,” he said.
“It’s right that you’ve got to be robust without being dirty. And I think he was robust.”
McLaren have been struggling to get their car up to speed after ending last year as the fastest team but starting this season some way off the pace with a new design instead of a simple evolution.
Perez has also had to contend with a world champion team-mate, who managed to deliver far more points than the car deserved in China on Sunday, in a top team where the drivers are under close media scrutiny.
Whitmarsh said McLaren had no doubts about Perez’s talent.
“With these sorts of tyres that are fragile, with a car that’s not quite there and tricky racing, I think he did a reasonable job but he’s not satisfied with himself and nor should he be.
“This won’t go down as his best weekend of the year.”
Wolff to sell stakes
Former Williams Executive Director Toto Wolff will sell his 16 per cent stake in the F1 team now that he has moved to rivals Mercedes.
The 41-year-old Austrian left Williams in January when he was appointed head of motorsport activities at Mercedes, where he will have a 30 per cent shareholding in their F1 team.
At the time, Williams said Wolff would retain his shareholding in the team where his Scottish wife Susie is a development driver. Wolff said he had given a commitment to Mercedes to dispose of the shares thereby avoiding any conflict of interest.
“I owe Frank (Williams) and the family and the whole team there to do it with responsibility. I cannot just go into the market and say ‘who wants to buy these shares?’ and that’s it,” Wolff said.
“If I sell, I have to find somebody who is responsible enough, who is coming in for the sport, hopefully a sponsor.
“And this is not so easy to find somebody who is suitable.”