05/04/2013
NEWS STORY
John Watson claims that the departure of Lewis Hamilton is hurting McLaren, the Ulsterman suggesting that Sergio Perez is essentially only 'half a driver'.
Having last week suggested that Sebastian Vettel should be dropped by Red Bull for one race as punishment for his Sepang selfishness, this week the five-time Grand Prix winner turns his attention to his former team, McLaren.
"Red Bull have two drivers of a high level of experience, as do Ferrari and Mercedes," he told BBC Sport. "McLaren look like they've got one and a half drivers.
"Signing Perez to replace Hamilton did raise a few eyebrows in the paddock," he continued. "While I think most would say he's got a single fast lap in him, his race performances are less of a known quantity. He had some great races last year but I'm not yet clear as to what level of information or value he brings the team."
Fact is, while the Mexican's star began to wane shortly after confirmation of the McLaren drive, the Woking outfit's 2013 contender would see even Alonso, Raikkonen or Vettel struggle. To an extent, Watson sympathises.
"Give Perez a really good car and he might shine," he continued, "but to me the ultimate driver is one who can drag performance out of an underperforming car. The jury is still out as to whether Perez has the potential to do that.
"The big teams are benefitting from having two drivers with lots of experience and race victories under their belt and I think McLaren, at least in the short term, are losing out."
Asked if he thinks the Woking outfit can quickly resolve the situation, the Ulsterman said: "I think they have the infrastructure and people there to correct the problem, but first they've got to find where the problem actually lies and I don't know if they even know."