Perez: 'Future is looking bright' for Racing Point

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Racing Point driver Sergio Perez says that he's encouraged by the designs for the squad's new factory facility, which he says show that the team has a bright future ahead.

As Force India, the team went into administration last summer but was saved after being bought by a consortium led by billionaire Canadian businessman Lawrence Stroll.

The investment means that as well as recruiting new staff, Racing Point can also start to update their ageing facilities at Silverstone which includes the main factory complex which dates back to 1991 when the team launched as Jordan, so an upgrade is seriously overdue.

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The team has confirmed that its new facilities will still be based at the Northamptonshire circuit, after buying 27 acres of neighbouring farmland in February.

“It definitely shows a good potential and is a solid move,” Perez told the official Formula1.com website this week.

"These things take time but [the plans are] really encouraging. It’s nice to see that the future is looking bright for the team."

Currently the team is up to fifth place in the constructors standings, despite missing out on points in the most two recent races in Spain and Monaco.

"The team is in the best position it has ever been," insisted Perez.

The team is currently using Mercedes' wind tunnel at Brackley to assist in car design for 2020, rather than the Toyota facility in Germany. While the team now has the space to build its own, the importance of wind tunnels has lessened in recent years with the rise of computer simulation methods.

However Racing Point management is also aware of the need to take things step-by-step and not get too carried away by the availability of funds from the Stroll consortium.

The team insisted that the new factory “will not be extravagant, but fit for purpose” with team principal Otmar Szafnauer adding that the same cautious approach will also apply to adding more personnel.

“We are growing and we’re recruiting now – but not at a pace where we’d take a half-step backwards,” he explained.

“We’ve got to really be careful that the new factory that’s being planned now, as well as our recruitment drive and some other things that are changing, don't affect the performance at the end of the season.

"It’s a fine balance to strike, but it’s one we’re conscious of and working hard to make sure we get right.”

The team says it plans to eventually increase staff levels to around 600, from around 400 at the end of last season.

"We can't really fit many more than 350 in the site where we're at, and we're already 425," Szafnauer commented earlier this year. "Even if we stayed the same size we'd need a new building to get everybody together.

"We've got to grow over time, we've got to grow strategically. But we'd like to house everybody under one roof. It's better."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.