Perez plays down potential McLaren move rumors

Sergio Perez says that his 2019 race seat is a done deal and it's just a matter of when the team in question want to make the announcement.

Until a few days ago that would have automatically meant that the Mexican driver intends to stay with Racing Point Force India for another season.

But earlier this week, Sky Sports reported that the 28-year-old has been in talks with his old team McLaren about returning to the squad next year.

Perez originally drove for the team in 2013 after Lewis Hamilton departed for Mercedes. However he was let go at the end of a single season and moved to Force India instead.

McLaren recently confirmed that Carlos Sainz will take over from Fernando Alonso at the end of this season, but has yet to confirm who will be their second driver. Stoffel Vandoorne, Esteban Ocon and Lando Norris are believed to be the leading contenders.

• Perez tops washed-out FP1 session at Monza

But the latest reports this week suggesting that Perez was also in the mix have not been immediately denied by either the team or the driver in question.

"If I had guarantees that I could be competitive, and there was a great project behind everything, then why not?" Perez said in Monza when asked whether he would ever consider a return to McLaren.

"But I would have to know the details of their plans better, to understand the situation of the team."

It still seems more likely that he will remain at Force India next year. He played a crucial part in initiating the legal process that saw the team bought out by the consortium led by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, whose son Lance is expected to drive for Force India in 2019.

Perez was certainly busy talking up his current squad this weekend ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.

"There is no doubt that the best of this team is coming," he said. "The goal is to be a competitive team in the coming seasons and I think it is possible to even be among the top three."

Perez added that a blame-free culture at Force India was important compared to other teams which had sign high profile senior staff departures in recent months.

He said that no one at Force India felt like they had "a hand tightening around their necks if they get something wrong.

"That is an important difference between us and some teams like Toyota, McLaren, Renault," he continued.

It strongly suggests that the smart money should remain on Perez sticking with Force India in 2019. Asked if his future was set, Perez stated simply: "Yes."

"It's a timing issue for the team. But where I'll be, I know. They will make the announcement when and where they wish to do it."

He added that he wasn't letting all the talk about 2019 affect his aims for the rest of the current season.

"I’ve got a contract and I keep performing and I keep delivering at my best," he said. "I try to score as many points as possible for the team, to try to get us further up on the grid. It doesn’t change from that perspective.

"I think we have a competitive car, we proved that in Belgium. We are coming to a similar track in terms of what you run around here.

"We should be quite competitive, and the aim is still the same – to try to be the best of the rest and I think we have a good chance of doing that again."

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