Sahara Force India F1 Team‘s Sergio Perez knows that the 2018 Formula One season will be crucial for his career if he wants to move up to a big team in 2019.
Perez has been consistently strong in the Force India over the past few seasons, finishing seventh in the championship in 2017. He is confident that his performances have proved his capabilities in Formula One.
He is looking to impress once more this year ahead of 2019, where there will be seats up for grabs at the top three teams, as the contracts of Kimi Raikkonen, Valtteri Bottas, Daniel Ricciardo and Lewis Hamilton will be up.
Speaking to Motorsport.com, Perez admitted that “it’s such an important year. There will be a lot of movements around Formula 1 in 2019 so it’s important to be quick from the beginning next year.
I believe in F1, everyone is looking at you not only in one race or one year but many years. When you look at what I’ve done in the last few years, I believe I’m in a good position.
I believe if the opportunity ever comes, I am totally prepared, very complete on the aspects as a driver and a person.
I’ve shown what I can do in Formula 1 but I want more and I feel that I can do a lot more than this.”
Perez did have a seat with McLaren (Renault Formula 1 Team) for the 2013 season, but is convinced that it came too early in his career for him to be able to utilise the opportunity properly.
“I truly believe that McLaren came too early in my career,” he commented.
“I wasn’t ready for that. But you cannot take for granted that it came for a reason. It came because I was doing a tremendous job.
I needed another year at Sauber at that time but it is what it is. Thanks to that year, it has made me the driver that I am now.”
