Mexican says deal is 'quite close'; Hints at wanting one-year deal to take advantage of potential 2019 driver market upheaval
Monday 28 August 2017 08:24, UK
Sergio Perez says he is close to agreeing a new contract at Force India and hopes to have his future resolved by the time F1 heads back to Asia.
The Mexican is in his fourth season with the Silverstone-based team but his current deal expires at the end of the year.
While Perez admitted talks had been difficult during the summer break, he hopes an extension can be announced before the Singapore GP next month.
"I'm quite close. Every deal I do involves my Mexican sponsors so right now they are in discussions. Hopefully soon we can be in a position to announce something," he told reporters ahead of the Belgian GP.
"It won't take too long I think. Hopefully once we go into Asia my future will be secure. I'm in no hurry, I know I'm in a good position so I want to focus on extracting performance out of the car."
While the driver market looks likely to remain fairly stable for 2018, there could be big movements in 2019 with none of the grid's leading drivers committed to seats for that season.
Asked if he was looking for a one-year extension with Force India to perhaps take advantage of that, Perez replied: "There are a couple of options there that we are analysing and trying to get the best one."
Perez has been regularly linked with a move away from Force India over the past two seasons and had been tipped as a possible replacement for Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari in 2018.
But the Finn signed a one-year extension on Tuesday and Perez conceded the lack of openings at the leading teams was frustrating.
"It's always the same case, if there is an opportunity in the top team it's very rare. Look at how Bottas ended up in Mercedes," he said.
"While it's frustrating for me, it's the way the sport is at the moment. There is just one or two teams being able to compete for the top and then there is a big margin behind. If you are not in those two teams then it is very difficult."
