Sergio Perez targeting championship glory with McLaren

Sergio Perez has confirmed that he is targeting Championship success with McLaren immediately, ahead of his departure from Sauber after this season as the replacement of Lewis Hamilton at the Woking-based outfit. The Mexican driver will team-mate Jenson Button next season, as Hamilton moves to Mercedes.

Despite mixed opinions with regards to McLaren’s decision to replace Lewis Hamilton with Sergio Perez, with even Martin Whitmarsh confirming doubts over his decision in signing the young Mexican, Sergio Perez is remaining focused on immediately winning races for McLaren. Throughout the 2012 season, Perez has enjoyed several sensational podium finishes for Sauber, which included a near-victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix at the start of the season.

It’s unarguably feasible that if Sergio Perez starts next season with McLaren with as much competitiveness witnessed at the start of this season, he will definitely be a contender for victory should McLaren design another race-winning machine. It’s fair to say McLaren could and should have won several more races this season, however technical gremlins have plagued them throughout. Should these issues be ironed out for next season, Sergio Perez and Jenson Button could well be a formidable pairing at McLaren.

"My target straight away is to win the World Championship," insisted Sergio Perez to CNN. "I need to get wins to do that. I know it will be very hard to win the Championship but it’s the challenge I want."

With Lewis Hamilton departing from McLaren at the end of the season, Jenson Button will undoubtedly assume the lead driver role within the team. Sergio Perez is looking forward to racing alongside the 2009 World Champion, and has admitted that he is a tough driver to beat.

"I’ve spoken to Jenson a bit since I signed for McLaren," continued Sergio Perez. "He seems to be a great guy and I think he’ll be good fun as a team-mate. He’s a very tough guy to beat and is very experienced. He’s one of the fastest guys out there."

Despite Sergio Perez’s insistence that he aims to start his career at McLaren in winning form, many still continue to believe McLaren have made a mistake in replacing someone like Lewis Hamilton with a driver still relatively new to the world of Formula 1. If anything, these comments will surely only serve as fuel for Perez to silence his critics once the action gets underway next March at Melbourne.

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