Could Racing Point do without Perez? 'Was immediately clear how much he missed it'

Perez takes the lead at Racing Point

It soon became clear that Perez had to come back to Racing Point soon. Nico Hulkenberg turned out to be a worthy replacement, but Lance Stroll clearly couldn't steer the team in the right direction. In the two races at Silverstone, Racing Point looked like a simple midfielder, where it belonged to the top.

''Racing Point really wanted Checo back in their car after his positive test. His speed was impressive after two weeks of absence. It's clear how much he missed out on racing and I think it hurt him a lot too,'' Ross Brawn said in his column for Formula1.com.

Stroll keeps track of Perez

With Perez at the wheel, the duo suddenly finished fourth and fifth in qualifying and the race and Perez had to leave his teammate alone with a five-second penalty. ''He didn't let his head hang and got the best out of that car. He's got a reputation for being good for the tyres and now he's showing it again," said Brawn, who also has nice words for Stroll.

''Lance Stroll did a great job. His overtaking on Valtteri Bottas was very brave and he also had the speed to close the gap to Perez. With his five-second penalty he was able to take fourth place'', the Formula 1 top man concluded.