Force India’s Sergio Perez wants to focus on his driving come the Belgian GP and not mess around worrying for other things to secure his F1 future.
The Mexican along with his manager Julian Jakobi’s Brockstone Ltd with Mercedes and BWT’s support, worked hard to push Force India into administration during the Hungarian GP, to save the outfit from shutting down.
Perez revealed he had been working behind the scenes to safeguard the team’s and the employees’ future which meant his driving took a backseat. However, after the team was put under administration, Perez could breathe a sigh of relief.
In fact, the FRP Advisory committee announced the seven new co-owners on Tuesday led by Canadian businessman Lawrence Stroll, father of Williams F1 driver Lance. The team’s future is now secured for the time being at least.
While the team can carry on, the driver situation remains unsolved as the likely impact will fall on Perez and Esteban Ocon. It is widely speculated that Lance will move to Force India, which means he will take the seat of either of the two drivers.
The Mexican’s focus is now to secure his F1 future rather than put his time on other things. “I am just pleased that we have some break now, we really need it,” he said. “The last few months I have been everything but not a racing driver.
“I have been put in a position where drivers shouldn’t be there. We are at this level, you have to work hard to develop yourself with the team and so on. I was just not able to do that, I had to do so many stuff out of the car.
“Once I come back to Belgium, I’ll also have to secure my [F1] future. I don’t want to mess around anymore. I really want to focus now on being a driver because if you look where I am – still Top 10 in the drivers’ championship [after all the issues].”
The Mexican is 10th with 30 points, same as Renault’s Carlos Sainz but the podium in Baku has put him ahead of the Spaniard in the order. Teammate Ocon is just behind in 12th with 29 points at the summer break.
For now both Perez and Ocon don’t have a seat for 2019. The Frenchman was mooted to move to Renault, but Daniel Ricciardo signed a deal alongside Nico Hulkenberg. Seats though remain open in Haas, Sauber, McLaren and Williams outside Force India.
For the 10 seats in five teams, there are as many as 14 drivers in the frame including the likes of Antonio Giovinazzi (Ferrari-backed), Robert Kubica and the current F2 title rivals George Russell (Mercedes-backed) and Lando Norris (McLaren-backed).
There is one seat within Red Bull Racing as well but considering the team’s philosophy, it should be a toss up between Sainz and Pierre Gasly. Rumours say Norris could get in Toro Rosso, but it will mean Red Bull going out of its norm for a driver.