Vodafone McLaren Mercedes welcomed its new driver Sergio Perez to assume office

January 9th, 2013 : Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team welcomed its new driver Sergio Perez of Mexico to join the team for the 2013 season. Perez will replace the outgoing Lewis Hamilton and will partner Jenson Button for the next two years.

The former member of the Ferrari Driver´s Academy, Perez showed good form during the first half of 2012 driving the Sauber and grabbed 3 podiums. He was also aggressively speculated for a Ferrari seat in 2013 after his podium performance while also being part of the Ferrari Academy. This speculation came to an end after Sergio was signed by McLaren as Hamilton moved to Mercedes.

Though the signing of the Mexican driver as a replacement for Hamilton was criticized by many after a slump performance by the driver in the final few races of 2012, the McLaren team was sure that Sergio will be the right combination for the team with Jenson Button as the lead driver.

Sergio Perez, Driver - Vodafone McLaren Mercedes said " It feels very special to be a part of the best team in Formula 1. Its a real special day for me, even though its only interviews i m enjoying it.  I m really looking forward now to start i think we have a lot of work ahead of us. I am here to bring everything i can to give me very best".

Asked about his new team mate Jenson Button, Perez commented "He is a great champion i think i have to learn a lot from him at the same time working along with him. Well i am so much looking forward to work with Jenson, first of all he is a great guy, second he is one of the best drivers in the world, he is world champion and he is the most experienced driver in the paddock, definitely its going to be great team mat,e i will learn a lot from him but at the same time i will try to beat him"

On his target for the year, he commented "Well when you come into Vodafone McLaren Mercedes the target is to win and everybody here in this company, the team and the family wants to win. My target is to win thats why i came here and i am coming here to win, to win title, to win races and that has to be our target"

Martin Whitmarsh, Team Principle, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes said "Sergio is an intelligent driver and you know he is clearly ambitious, I think he is got at the moment the right blend of pleasant humility but underneath it a steely determination and self belief the he going to be a world champion and i think thats a delicate balance and for 22year old he does it very very well and he is very charming"

It is expected that Sergio will make some good performance with his new team this year and given the performance and speed of the McLaren 2013 is going to see a new driver in the podiums.

But how far Sergio could equate with the performance of the outgoing Lewis Hamilton is a very big question.