'McLaren chance came too soon,' says Perez

Sergio Perez believes he is now a more complete and mature Formula 1 driver, and that his ill-fated attempt to shine at McLaren came too early in his career.

Perez was cherry-picked by the Woking outfit in 2013 to replace stalwart Lewis Hamilton after a couple of seasons with Sauber where the Mexican displayed an obvious potential.

Unfortunately, Perez' still lack of experience and ripeness at the time, coupled with McLaren's own downturn in form, resulted in a botched season that saw him dropped at the end of the year in favor of rookie Kevin Magnussen.

"The McLaren opportunity came early in the way the team was facing a lot of political issues inside the team," Perez explained.

"In terms of racing, I was very immature and not ready to cope with such a difficult car and such a difficult team. I'm sure if I had a car capable of winning I could have had a big opportunity to win races and challenge for a title."

Perez nevertheless conceded that his difficult year at McLaren was certainly not a lost one as it forced him to evolve positively, especially on the mental front.

"I am a lot more mature now and more experienced so right now I am ready for anything," Perez concluded.

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