Otmar Szafnauer highlights one thing Sergio Perez learned from Nico Hulkenberg

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Teammates in Formula 1 are an important benchmark for drivers to measure their performance against, but they can also be used as a way to improve their skills on track.

The best drivers in the history of F1 have been able to learn from their closest rivals, taking traits that enable them to extract more lap time or improve their driving skillset to make them a more rounded talent.

Max Verstappen has been noted by Martin Brundle for having a ‘god-given’ talent similar to Ayrton Senna, while Oscar Piastri has been hailed for having traits that are reminiscent of Michael Schumacher.

Former F1 team principal Otmar Szafnauer highlighted how F1 teams try to match their driver pairings to complement a certain skill set when speaking on the James Allen on F1 podcast.

READ MORE: Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg’s life outside F1 from wife to height

Otmar Szafnauer explains Nico Hulkenberg’s driving trait passed on to Sergio Perez

One of the drivers who often gets overlooked on the grid is Nico Hulkenberg, who is known for being a brilliant qualifier due to his excellent one-lap pace according to his former race engineer.

Hulkenberg was formally teammates with Sergio Perez at Force India between the 2014 and 2016 seasons, with them being one of the most successful in the team’s history having achieved fourth in the Constructors’ Championship in their final year together.

Szafnauer believes the driver pairing worked well because of the different skill sets that either could learn from, with Hulkenberg and Perez taking traits from each other.

“You always looked at the driver pairing. If you could compliment one driver’s strengths for another one’s weaknesses, that would help. I remember when we had Sergio and Hulkenberg [at Force India],” said Szafnauer.

“Hulkenberg was a much better qualifier over one lap and Sergio could look after his rear tyres a lot better than Nico could. So that pairing learned from each other. Sergio got better over a lap and Nico got better at looking after his tyres.”

Sergio Perez endures tough run at Red Bull

There have been lots of questions over Perez’s future in Formula 1 amid a poor run of form at Red Bull.

Ironically, most of his unforced errors have come during qualifying when he either crashed out of the session and caused significant damage or went off and was unable to rejoin the session.

The Mexican’s average qualifying position was third at the start of the season, but that has now dropped down to ninth. It is a worrying trend in qualifying sessions that started to emerge for Perez, having also suffered similar problems in the dominant RB19 last year.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Sergio Perez’s life outside F1 from net worth to nickname

Red Bull elected against changing their lineup mid-season after Perez got a vote of confidence from team principal Christian Horner, who held crunch talks with senior management on the Monday after the Belgian Grand Prix.

Hulkenberg is set to join Sauber from the 2025 season in anticipation of Audi’s takeover of the team in 2026 when it will enter as a works outfit with its own power unit under the new regulations.