- McLaren
Teams should be snapping Perez up - Button
Jenson Button believes any team with a driver vacancy next year should seriously consider filling it with his McLaren team-mate Sergio Perez.
Perez will leave McLaren at the end of the year to be replaced by Kevin Magnussen and is currently trying to negotiate a drive elsewhere. Button, who has outscored Perez by 20 points so far this year, believes Perez should be near the top of the wish list of teams like Lotus, Sauber and Force India, which have not yet confirmed their line-ups for 2014.
"I feel that Checo [Perez] has learnt so much through this year," Button said. "He came into the team with two years' experience but he has still learnt so much. It's very difficult to take all that data in because McLaren are very good at giving a driver, when they arrive at the team, every single bit of data they need to do the job. It's tough to take that onboard but Checo has.
"The decision of who is in the [other McLaren] car is not down to me but all I can say is that Checo has done a good job this year. Every team in the pit lane could benefit from Checo, in terms of the experience he has learned in his years in the sport. Any team that has a seat available should be looking at Checo to put him in that seat, because he not only brings speed but, what he has shown after the announcement this week, is that he brings intelligence. That's a big thing in the sport these days; it's not just about driving fast, you have to bring the whole package."
Perez said he is in talks with teams but would not settle for a drive at the back of the grid.
"As soon as I knew, together with my management, I have been looking at every single option for my future," he said. "Obviously we know which seats they are and we are talking to them and hopefully in the next days we can really do something.
"I love the sport but there are many things I don't like about Formula One. So I will not be in Formula One just to be here, I really need to find a competitive seat that will give me the opportunity to keep showing my talent and in the future get a seat to fight for the championship, which is still my aim."
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
