Perez on F1 future: My position doesn’t change

Sergio Perez says the rollercoaster month for the new-look Racing Point Force India squad hasn’t changed his situation as he expects to confirm his Formula 1 future shortly.

Having been part of the process which triggered Force India’s administration and led to a takeover by a consortium led by Lawrence Stroll, Perez headed up the team’s charge at the Belgium Grand Prix having lost its F1 world constructors’ championship points following its new team entry status.

The new F1 team produced its strongest performance of the season with Perez taking fifth place ahead of teammate Esteban Ocon to see the Silverstone-based squad notch up enough points to overhaul Williams and move to one point off Sauber in the standings.

Perez says the impressive results acted as a pressure relief for the entire team and feels the events which have unfolded won’t have a bearing on his F1 future having confirmed he had a contract signed in Belgium.

“It was great to see everyone so happy after the tension that we had, not knowing what was going on with all the jobs, including mine and so on,” Perez said. “It was great to get that kind of result for the team, it shows the potential my team has, I was so proud of that performance.

“In terms of my position, it doesn’t change. I’ve got a contract. I’ve got to keep performing and keep delivering at my best, to try and score as many points as possible for the team, to try to get as further up on the grid. It doesn’t change from that perspective.”

Perez is also confident of replicating Force India’s pace at Monza from Spa-Francorchamps to maintain its new-found momentum.

“I think we have a competitive car, we proved that in Belgium,” he said. “We’re coming to a similar track in terms of what you run around here so we should be quite competitive.

“The aim is still the same, to try to be the best of the rest and we have a chance of doing that again.”