Force India driver Sergio Perez believes Daniel Ricciardo will have a “hard time” battling against Nico Hulkenberg when he joins the German at Renault next season.
Ricciardo has opted to leave the Red Bull structure after a decade-long association in order to join forces with Renault, which is in the process of plotting its return to the front of the grid.
Ricciardo’s move will see him partner Hulkenberg, who joined Renault for the 2017 season after spending three years competing alongside Perez at Force India.
Perez and Hulkenberg were typically equally matched during their three-year stint together, with the Mexican scoring 238 points to 226, finishing ahead in the standings in 2015/16.
“The Ricciardo to Renault [move] is quite an interesting one,” said Perez.
“I think… to have someone like him in the midfield will just show how strong the midfield is at the moment.
“I think if things stay the same for next year, and the midfield is so close together, he’s going to enjoy a lot of competitive [battles].
“It will be interesting to see him with Hulkenberg as well because I think he’s going to have a hard time there with Nico.”
Perez is expected to partner Lance Stroll at Force India in the wake of Lawrence Stroll’s investment into the team, with a move for the 19-year-old tipped to occur before the end of the season.
When asked to rate Stroll, Perez replied: “I think it’s so hard to know someone as a driver when you’re not being alongside him.
“There’s so much difference in Formula 1 across teams, performance between cars you see, a difference in 2.5 seconds, it’s very hard to judge a driver.
“I think he did not too bad alongside Felipe [Massa], who’s a very experienced driver, I think right now Williams is in a very difficult position so it’s very hard to judge.
“I think he has grown up, he has very good experience now with two years at Williams so we’ll see what he’s able to do in that regard. It’s very hard to judge someone, not your team-mate.”
