Racing Point missed out on third in the 2020 F1 Constructors’ Championship to McLaren after Sergio Perez retired from the Abu Dhabi GP due to a mechanical failure and Lance Stroll could only manage P10.
This was especially disappointing for the Silverstone-based team, which will be rebranded Aston Martin Racing next year, as they had the third-fastest car throughout the season.
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Speaking after his DNF at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Perez described the outcome of the race as a “shame” and fired a thinly veiled jibe at Stroll, suggesting that he isn’t a “strong” racing driver.
“It’s a shame, because it cost us a lot in the Constructors’ Championship and they beat us,” Perez said.
“No doubt we had a better car than McLaren, but in the end they overtook us. I’ve always said finishing the races would make a difference, but we had problems with our cars.
“McLaren deserves it a lot too, proving that having two strong drivers in the team makes a very important difference,” the Mexican added.
In total, Racing Point scored 210 points, but they were docked 15 points earlier in the season after the FIA determined that they had illegally copied the brake ducts of the 2019 Mercedes F1 car.
So, they finished their 2020 campaign with 195 points, seven points adrift of McLaren’s tally of 202 points.
Perez scored almost twice as many points as his younger team-mate, bringing in 125 points to Stroll’s 75 despite the Canadian competing in one more race than him.
Nico Hulkenberg also scored ten points for the team, as he competed in three grand prix due to Perez testing positive for COVID-19 towards the start of the year and subsequently missing both races at Silverstone, and Stroll later missing the Eifel Grand Prix for the same reason.
The McLaren drivers’ points distribution was considerably more even, with Carlos Sainz scoring 105 and Lando Norris contributing 97.
Despite his retirement at the season finale, Sergio Perez still finished fourth in the Drivers’ Standings with six points more than Daniel Ricciardo.
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