'Fantastic asset' Perez deserves Red Bull F1 seat - Racing Point owner Stroll

Racing Point owner Lawrence Stroll hopes Sergio Perez lands a seat with Red Bull for the 2021 F1 season following his departure from the Silverstone outfit.

Lewis Larkam

07 Dec 2020

'Fantastic asset' Perez deserves Red Bull F1 seat - Racing Point owner Stroll

Racing Point owner Lawrence Stroll hopes Sergio Perez lands a seat with Red Bull for the 2021 Formula 1 season following his departure from the Silverstone outfit.

Perez has been dropped by Racing Point just a season into a newly-signed three-year deal in favour of a move for four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, who will arrive from Ferrari to partner Lance Stroll as the team rebrands to Aston Martin next year.

Despite a mightily impressive 2020 - which sees Perez occupy fourth place in the championship heading into the final round in Abu Dhabi - the Mexican does not have a drive secured for next season, with Red Bull his last-remaining option for a race seat as it weighs up whether to retain Alex Albon alongside Max Verstappen.

Following his shock maiden victory in Bahrain, Stroll believes that Perez “deserves” to secure a front-running drive with Red Bull for 2021.

“Checo has been a fantastic asset,” Stroll told Sky. “He’s been an asset for this team a long time before I’ve arrived.

“I think he most definitely proves every weekend he deserves to be in the car next year and I hope he’s in that Red Bull next year.”

And Stroll is hopeful of replicating more performances like Racing Point’s 1-3 finish in Bahrain in the future under its new Aston Martin guise.

“What people forget is it already was a great team we purchased,” Stroll explained.

“They were 400 guys, half the amount of staff of most of our competition, less than half of the budget, and they managed to finish a couple of years fourth in a row. So it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that they’re able to accomplish this today.

“I brought some funding that the team desperately needed to be more competitive and I brought some leadership skills with me that helped the team be more competitive. Today and, hopefully, many more days like today in the future, is the result.”