Perez issues Force India ultimatum over future

Sergio Perez says he will start to look elsewhere if his future at Force India is not sorted within a week.

While Force India has stated Perez is under contract for next season, the commercial agreements with his sponsors have yet to be finalised. The Mexican had been linked with a move elsewhere but in recent weeks has said he wants to stay with the team, but is still yet to finally secure his future.

Asked if he is speaking to a number of teams at present, Perez replied: "No, at the moment I am just considering one team.

"There are some other options on the table, quite interesting options but at the moment I hope that it works out with one team and if it doesn’t by next week we will have to look at something else.

"Obviously I want to keep my career in Formula One going so I cannot wait much longer so, I expect everything will be done by next week. I see no reason why [not] but I am not in a position to confirm anything, because of my past experience nothing has been done, so until it’s done and signed then it’s really done."

And Perez suggested it is now up to the team whether it can offer him the deal he wants, insisting he is only thinking about next season and not about any long-term plans.

“At the moment basically only thinking on next year, obviously we are going into a next generation of cars, so it will be crucial to get the stability, have the stability, and I like that. I like to spend many years with a team.

"You develop that relationship and it’s not a secret that I want to be here next year, especially going into a new generation and I believe in the team. Whether it’s what I get in the end I don’t know but I am sure I will find out before next weekend.”

Chris Medland's 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix preview

TECHNICAL: F1 telemetry: The data race

FEATURE: When F1 team-mates fight for the title

F1i Classic: Sepang 2001 - Ferrari pulls off a masterstroke

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

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.