Perez: Lawrence Stroll the most 'motivated' person in the garage

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Racing Point isn't Lawrence Stroll's personal little toy but a project for which the billionaire is massively motivated insists Sergio Perez.

With the help of a consortium of investors, Stroll took over the assets of Force India last summer following the team's financial demise and set out on rebuilding the Silverstone-based outfit.

The Canadian fashion mogul hired his son Lance Stroll to race alongside Perez, leading many to believe that Racing Point is first and foremost a family business.

While there is perhaps an amount of truth to that idea, Perez has nevertheless been impressed by Stroll senior's unwavering commitment to the team and its future.

"He's very enthusiastic, he's probably the most motivated person we have in the garage right now," said Perez, speaking to Formula 1's Tom Clarkson in the sport's latest Beyond the Grid podcast.

"He says that this is a project that has motivated him the most in his whole life, it's the project that gets him up at six in the morning and he's flat out trying to go through everything.

"He's pushing the team very very hard, but at the same time he's letting Otmar [Szafnauer - team principal] and the big boys do their job, but we are all aware that we have to give the results sooner rather than later.

"He loves racing, I'm surprised with his energy and how much he wants his team to be successful."

Stroll has put his money where his motivation is, injecting adequate cash into the new Racing Point entity to ensure its viability, but also investing heavily in the future with new infrastructure set to be built around the team's Silverstone headquarters in the coming year.

Perez doesn't deny the 'family business' perception, but the Mexican believes he can piggy back on Stroll's vested interest.

"He obviously wants his son to be very successful, which is in my benefit as well because he's definitely putting all the resources in place," added Perez.

"Lance is just a normal guy, a normal driver. He works very hard, he's also very talented and I have a very good relationship with him.

"We work well together and we try to push the team forward together. We're all in the same boat and we all want to be successful here."

Asked if he felt his team mate was being given an unfair advantage the 29-year-old replied:

"No, I feel so much part of this team, of this family," he said.

"We are all in the same boat. We want to bring the team forward.

"We are not where we want to be at the moment. It's about bringing the team forward and I don't see that [favouristism] happening in my case to be honest.

"Up to now, everything has been transparent, everything has been as before. We are all very excited and so much looking forward to this new project."

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