Perez believes Stroll has stronger race pace than Ocon and Hulkenberg

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15:30, 28 Mar 2019

Sergio Perez believes his new Racing Point team-mate Lance Stroll has better race pace than any of his previous team-mates.

Stroll recorded a ninth-place finish for Racing Point on his debut for the team in Australia two weeks ago, to cap off a wonderful season-opener for the young Canadian driver.

The former Williams driver showed better race pace than Perez on his debut, and the Mexican admitted he is surprised about how quickly Stroll has settled in at Racing Point.

"In a way, Esteban (Ocon) and Nico (Hulkenberg) were quite a similar approach and they always seemed to struggle a lot with race pace," Perez explained to Motorsport.com.

"But with Lance, his race pace is, from all the team-mates, the closest to mine. He's already, on Sundays, quite good. I was quite surprised because going for a long run I seemed to find it a bit easier with my previous team-mates, but it's not the case now.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Points
1	Kimi Antonelli Kimi Antonelli	MercedesMER	156
2	Lewis Hamilton Lewis Hamilton	FerrariFER	115
3	George Russell George Russell	MercedesMER	106
4	Charles Leclerc Charles Leclerc	FerrariFER	75
5	Lando Norris Lando Norris	McLarenMCL	73
6	Oscar Piastri Oscar Piastri	McLarenMCL	70
7	Max Verstappen Max Verstappen	Red Bull RacingRBR	55
8	Isack Hadjar Isack Hadjar	Red Bull RacingRBR	37
9	Pierre Gasly Pierre Gasly	AlpineALP	32
10	Liam Lawson Liam Lawson	Racing BullsRCB	28
11	Franco Colapinto Franco Colapinto	AlpineALP	19
12	Oliver Bearman Oliver Bearman	HaasHAA	18
13	Arvid Lindblad Arvid Lindblad	Racing BullsRCB	14
14	Carlos Sainz Carlos Sainz	WilliamsWIL	6
15	Alexander Albon Alexander Albon	WilliamsWIL	5
16	Esteban Ocon Esteban Ocon	HaasHAA	3
17	Gabriel Bortoleto Gabriel Bortoleto	AudiAUD	2
18	Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso	Aston MartinAST	1
19	Nico Hulkenberg Nico Hulkenberg	AudiAUD	0
20	Valtteri Bottas Valtteri Bottas	CadillacCAD	0
21	Sergio Perez Sergio Perez	CadillacCAD	0
22	Lance Stroll Lance Stroll	Aston MartinAST	0

Perez believes Stroll has stronger race pace than Ocon and Hulkenberg

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