How well would Sergio Perez have performed at Aston Martin?

At the halfway stage of the 2021 Formula 1 season it's time to take stock. Sebastian Vettel was brought to Aston Martin as the new figurehead, but while the four-time world champion has impressed on occasions, he hasn't delievered week-in, week-out at his new team. The question is, will we ever see the old Vettel again at Aston Martin?

Statistics

Team: Aston Martin

Drivers: Sebastian Vettel - Lance Stroll

Race duel: 4-6

Points: 30 – 18

Qualifying duel: 7-4

Qualifying difference: 0.020s in favour of Vettel

Stroll is no match

Before we dive into the data, we actually need to give some background to the information. Lance Stroll is always laughed off as the 'pay driver, but in recent years he has been praised for his good performances, such as the pole in the rain in Turkey. Stroll certainly has qualities, but we cannot say he is a world-class talent.

In his time in Formula 1, Stroll has had Felipe Massa, Sergey Sirotkin and Sergio Perez as teammates. Massa was faster than Stroll on his return, Sirotkin was faster than Stroll most of the time, even though he finished behind the Canadian, and the difference with Perez was also fairly big. In year one of their duel, Perez was on average over a tenth faster per qualifying compared to Stroll, but in 2020 that difference widened to 0.316s.

In 2019, Perez scored 52 points compared to the 21 that Stroll scored, and in 2020 the difference was 125 to 75. So with Perez struggling so heavily alongside Max Verstappen, you could argue that Lance Stroll is not a world-class talent.

The Fall of Vettel

In that respect, Aston Martin was an excellent choice for Vettel. For two years, the German had been beaten by the new Ferrari talent, Charles Leclerc, and had lost all his confidence there. At Aston Martin, he has become the figurehead of the team, even though he had to sit next to the boss' son in the car.

The podium in Hungary (which Vettel was later disqualified from) also showed how happy the team is to have such a world champion. Vettel celebrated with his mechanics, but you start asking yourself questions: How good would Perez have been with this car? The Mexican was pushed aside for Vettel, while Perez was the best driver on the team.

With Vettel's status as a four-time world champion, you'd expect him to keep Stroll at bay for a while too. However, that is not yet the case. The German has finished ahead of Stroll more often in qualifying, but on average, the gap is minimal: 0.020s per qualifying. If you consider that the gap to Perez was three tenths, you wonder what Perez could do with the current car of Aston Martin.

Vettel holds the line

In that respect, Vettel has seemed to follow the same pattern as in his time with Ferrari. On his day, Vettel can still do some nice things, such as his podium in Hungary or Azerbaijan. The problem however lies deeper. Over a whole season, he doesn't seem able to comfortably outperform a driver like Lance Stroll.

Also for Aston Martin, one can wonder if this is a good thing. The team points at the regulations that have made the car slower, but the team should also look at itself. They threw out the driver who scored the most points and was the fastest on Saturday, to bring in a driver who doesn't seem to be able to do the same. Was Perez perhaps just a little too fast for the boss's son, then, and he preferred another teammate? We will never know.