Although Force India boss Vijay Mallya and the team’s senior managers are adamant that Sergio Perez has a contract to stay with the team in 2017, the Mexican and his minders have a plan and are not yet revealing what that plan is.
Reports have emerged suggesting that Perez is looking for a team where he can hold station for a year, namely 2017, before he moves to Ferrari in 2018 to replace Kimi Raikkonen.
Speaking to Sky Sport, Perez acknowledged, “Ferrari is the biggest team in Formula 1, it is a dream for every driver. I just hope that if the opportunity comes it comes at the right time at the right moment. It is so important for a racing career that the opportunity comes at the right time and the right moment.”
Despite Force India insisting he is there man, Perez has been linked to Williams and Renault, but those would be long term deals which would probably rule out Ferrari for the Mexican in the future hence his interest to remain with the Silverstone based team for another year.
However Perez is adamant, “I am not making my decision based on what Ferrari might do. I am taking my decision on what I think is the best from my career point of view. Whatever happens next will be good, but I am not basing my decision on that.”
“I am basing my decision on my belief in the team, I believe we can move up, I see good potential in the team so that is why I want to stay,” he revealed.
Perez has history with Maranello, he became a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy scheme in October 2010 and around that time he was confirmed by (Ferrari-powered) Sauber for the 2011, a large chunk of Telmex backing helped to seal that deal.
His years at Sauber were solid, but not stellar, and the plan was that he was being groomed for a move to Ferrari at some point, with Telmex bank rolling such a move.
But Perez was impressive in 2012 and McLaren came knocking, signed him up to replace Lewis Hamilton and the rest is history. In a nutshell after one season at Woking he was hurled out on to the scrap heap only to be rescued by Force India who took him on-board in 2014.
He shed light on the impact of the McLaren debacle, “It was extremely tough my period with McLaren, especially what happened at the end. I was expecting to be part of McLaren for a couple of years, to grow with the team, but that didn’t happen.”
“I didn’t have the opportunity to show my full potential with the team. We didn’t have a competitive car, but not only that we didn’t have a consistent car. When I look back it is just great that I was able to survive that hit.”
This season Perez is getting the better of highly rated Nico Hulkenberg and after Singapore he had 66 points to his credit, 20 more than his Force India teammate.
The delay in confirming his plans for 2017 appears to hinge on Force India accepting a get-out clause should Ferrari be an option any time in the future.
Perez confirmed to Sky Sport that Force India was his best bet, “We are just getting to the end of the final negotiations [with Force India] which I really hope doesn’t change. But in this business I know by experience that things can change very quickly.”
“When I was at McLaren everything was pretty much done, there was just a little piece of paper to be signed and it never got signed. But it very much looks like I will be here next year. That is what I want to do but you never know,” he added cryptically.
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