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In an interview with Press Association Sport yesterday, Force India driver Sergio Perez believes his 2015 race seat at Force India will be confirmed “in the next week or so”.
Force India announced on Monday that Nico Hulkenberg would stay with the team next year as he remains “one of the best talents on the grid”, but they kept mum about Perez’s seat.
Perez who moved to Force India at the start of this year after a disappointing 2013 with McLaren, has scored 47 points, including a podium in Bahrain. Team principal Vijay Mallya has previously indicated that he wants to keep both Hulkenberg and Perez and the latter is confident his seat is secure.
In his interview with Press Association Sport yesterday, Perez wants to finalise his seat for next season as quickly as possible and that is his main priority. Perez stated the following:-
‘I want to close out my situation. We’re now coming towards the end of the year, and I think in the next week or so it will be done with (regards to) my future. Getting the deal done is now my main priority.’
I would have to agree with Perez and getting his future sorted for next year in a driver market that is moving very quickly has to be his priority. He has also stated in the past few weeks that anything can happen in Formula One and we have seen Perez especially last season being so close to leaving the sport and you can be sure he doesn’t want to be in that position again.
Further on in his interview yesterday, Perez has said that he is seeking some stability in his F1 career as he has spent the last three seasons at three different teams. Perez added the following:-
‘The only opportunity I had to establish myself in a team was with Sauber in 2012, and I want to do the same here. I’ve made really good progress with the team, although I’m losing my race engineer for next year (Gianpiero Lambiase).
‘It’s always a blow when you lose an engineer you have built up a relationship with, but I believe I’ve enough experience to work with anyone. I’ve also good information on what is going on, how this team works, which will help me be very strong for next year.’
As Perez points out, he had an opportunity to establish himself in a team with Sauber in 2012 and it is clear that he feels Force India is the best option for him to do the same again. Perez has improved this season and has matured as a driver in the process and is happy to remain within the team for next season.
Even though he will be losing his race engineer next season if he stays with the team, but he will use the experience he has gained this season and in previous seasons with his new engineer for 2015. But Perez if he stays in the team has a solid foundation to build on in 2015 and this will help him get the best performances out of the car too.
As Perez points out, he had an opportunity to establish himself in a team with Sauber in 2012 and it is clear that he feels Force India is the best option for him to do the same again. Perez has improved this season and has matured as a driver in the process and is happy to remain within the team for next season.
Even though he will be losing his race engineer next season if he stays with the team, but he will use the experience he has gained this season and in previous seasons with his new engineer for 2015. But Perez if he stays in the team has a solid foundation to build on in 2015 and this will help him get the best performances out of the car too.
Overall, it is clear that with the uncertainty of the driver market, you can understand why Perez wants to secure his future for 2015 with Force India as quickly as possible. It is clear that Perez wants to remain with the team next season and feels that it is the best option for him to establish himself as a driver and also improve further too.
With the sponsorship budget that he brings to the team, his performances this season and also the team throughout the past few weeks stating that they are happy with his performances on the track, I do feel that Force India will retain him for next season.
Perez has shown that he can deliver if he has the car underneath him and the partnership of Perez and Hulkenberg has been one of the surprises of the season. And I really can see this partnership continuing next season and has the potential to get better in 2015 if Force India build another competitive and reliable car like this year.
But as with anything until the deal is signed and delivered, nothing is safe in Formula One and Perez only knows that too well. But I am fairly confident that he will be retained by Force India for 2015 and rightly so.
