“I think that a race driver is great not only because of the driving, but because of everything that surrounds him. How he thinks and how open or closed minded he is. In this case he is having a great time, because he is not here just to have fun, but to be a competitor who wants to do well”.
“He asked a lot of questions, he was very open minded. I thought that everything was going to be calmer, Many people know him as a very calm guy and for wanting to be left alone, but he is not like that at all. The truth is that he impressed me a lot. He has learned very quickly. Driving is something natural for him”, said the Mexican.
“But he was very curious to know more about him at the mentality level, how he faces this challenge. He's been learning quite a bit, getting a lot of feedback from me and it's really fun to see how he's adapting in the simulator but also in the real race car. Although it was only a couple of hours, it was good to see."
“I tried to guide him as much as I could and I really feel that he is trying to prepare as best he can. If one day he had to make a career in Europe, I would like to be able to prepare like he is doing."
"It's been a lot of fun working with him these past few days and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do next week."
However, he admits it might not be easy for Ferrari's last world champion to take on the Cup drivers, especially at a time when the playoff race is on the brink.
“I think he will be fast because the speed is there, but the racing part is going to be a process because no matter how much you practice in the simulator, no matter how many tests you do, the racing part is another story.
“What I mean is the pit stops, the restarts, the tire care, the brake care, that's the part of the races that it takes to win them and where I feel like it's going to be a process for him because He never has."
“It's different and he doesn't know all those drivers. He doesn't know how they run, he doesn't know how aggressive they are, so that part is going to cost him a little bit. You can bring in the best driver in the world and he is going to take some time to adjust race-wise.”
