Perez: ‘Amazing’ if Force India can beat McLaren

Sergio Perez would find it “amazing” if Force India can still manage to beat McLaren in the Formula 1 constructors’ championship this year after having its points reset following the summer break.

Force India was stripped of its points total following the sale of the team to a new consortium that meant it had to re-enter the championship, starting at the Belgian Grand Prix in August.

The team - which had technically changed name from Sahara Force India to Racing Point Force India - had been sixth in the standings with 59 points, seven clear of McLaren.

Strong results at Spa and Monza saw Force India rise back up to seventh in the standings with 32 points, putting it just 20 behind McLaren with seven races remaining this year.

“At the moment we are seventh, so the next target is sixth, which would be amazing if we manage to beat McLaren before the end of the season,” Perez said.

“But to me that’s irrelevant. To me, I want to do my calculation after Abu Dhabi of how many points we scored this year and if we finished fourth or not. That’s a very easy mathematics to do and that’s my biggest change.

“That’s my biggest target, to theoretically finish fourth at the end of the year.”

Had Force India not been excluded from the championship, it would now sit fourth in the standings on 91 points, ahead of both Renault (86) and Haas (76).

Force India has brought an update package to Singapore which Perez said was not certain of arriving had it not been for the takeover by the consortium which rescued the team from administration.

“Now is the time we have to deliver,” Perez said. “We are quite optimistic about the upgrade. Generally Singapore is not the greatest track for us, so hopefully we can be competitive this weekend and score a lot of points with both cars.

“[The update] is quite a bit everywhere. Floor, dashboard and stuff. It was expected to be on this one [Singapore] originally, but it was not sure if we were going to get it or not.”