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Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll are taking contrasting positions to questions about their respective Formula 1 futures amid the drawn-out driver saga of Racing Point’s potential move for Sebastian Vettel.
Racing Point has stuck to its position that Perez and Stroll have contracts for next season but never emphatically ruled out four-time world champion and outgoing Ferrari driver Vettel as an option for the team’s transition to Aston Martin’s works entry in 2021.
Ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Vettel said there was no movement on his future: “There’s no updates. You can just copy, paste the question from last time of the press conference.”
So, he remains in the same position as before – one that included, he had admitted, some talks with Racing Point.
And Racing Point has had opportunities to eliminate Vettel as an option for next season and state that Perez and Stroll will be racing for the team beyond 2020 but has not done so explicitly.
As a result, the questions continue. Perez is widely considered the most at-risk driver given Stroll’s father is team chairman, but the Mexican is handling questions with greater grace.
Both drivers were asked on Thursday at Spa if they were talking to other teams or felt completely safe at Racing Point.
“I said before in Spain I feel that both parties we want to carry on and we believe in each other and we believe in the project, so nothing really more to say,” said Perez.
Stroll responded: “No, I have nothing to say about that.”
Questions about their future and the team’s conduct continued across the 10 or 15 minutes the two drivers faced the digital press conference from the Belgian media centre.
These were not lengthy back-and-forths and it would be unfair to consider it worthy of a full character analysis. But it is consistent with the messaging, tone and demeanour from both drivers for some time and presents an interesting juxtaposition.
While Stroll is terse, Perez speaks with more verve. Neither driver wants to be sat there answering these questions but only one really lets it show.
“It’s a matter of time,” said Perez. “What I said in Spain: that I felt really happy in the team, I really believe in the project, I’ve been here for a while and I’ve seen how the team is going onwards.
“And we all feel internally that everything is working well.
“So, we don’t see a reason why we should change anything so I don’t see any reason to change.
“I think we are enjoying a great season on track and things are working really well in the team so I don’t expect any change.
“The feedback that I get from the team is that we all want to continue.”
The questions ended with one that asked if it was disrespectful to the drivers, and damaging morale internally, that the 2021 plans were not just being explicitly confirmed.
“Well, I think there are some discussions in the background,” said Perez.
“And as I said before it’s just a matter of time. All the feedback that I get, it’s really positive.
“So, I stay with that, and that’s where my confidence comes from, and where we stay calm.
“And as I said before it’s a situation that it’s out of my hands, so I don’t even bother at all.
“I focus on racing, enjoy it, then whatever happens, it’s out of my hands, so I don’t even pay zero attention to it.”
Stroll’s reply was minimal but got a little frostier: “I’m not gonna give you the story that you wanna sell.
“There’s nothing more to say about that topic.”
The problem is, he’s wrong. There will be more to say until there’s a cast-iron declaration that Stroll and Perez are racing at Aston Martin next year and Vettel is out of the picture, or the departure of one of the current incumbents is communicated and Vettel’s move is confirmed.
This line of questioning is no doubt frustrating for a lot of people but it is not the result of a targeted media agenda, it’s a legacy of the wiggle room that has been left on multiple occasions.
Questions have been asked and the answers haven’t been as clear as they could be. So questions get asked again.
Perez is handling that process better at the moment, which could be for many reasons: he’s more experienced, for starters. Maybe he’s also more comfortable with his own position, knowing he’s doing all he can in terms of performances and results.
But there is also a lighter touch to Perez’s responses, a bit more elegance and civility: a joking “I think it’s good for you to have something to speak about”, for instance, when asked if he wanted the rumours put to bed so journalists can stop asking questions.
There is a perception, at least outside of the team, that Perez is a more affable, approachable personality than Stroll. Their contrasting conducts in exchanges like these serve to illustrate that point.
In the Spanish GP two weeks ago, Stroll proved why he is worthy of a car like the RP20. He was combative off the line, excellent in the first stint, and did what he had to do to overcome Perez given the two diverged on strategy.
Yet when asked by The Race about the satisfaction of that performance, which could rank as one of his best in F1, it seemed thoroughly unremarkable to him, or at least not worthy of much reflection.
“Yeah, I mean I think it was a solid weekend,” he said.
“We were really competitive throughout the whole weekend and fourth and fifth was the maximum that we could have achieved and we did it so…yeah, we’ve got to be happy with that for sure.”
Performances, rather than attitude, should be the primary factor in determining the identity of Aston Martin’s future F1 drivers.
But these contrasting conducts are an illustration of why a driver like Perez is looked on more fondly, and would court sympathy should the axe swing in his direction.
Neither driver is responsible for this situation, but they are just the public faces of it. Stroll needs to find a similarly graceful way of handling that.
