Sergio Pérez has revealed the crucial role he played in saving Force India in 2018. The Mexican placed the Silverstone team under administration at the time, ultimately paving the way for the takeover by Lawrence Stroll. The Canadian saved the team from financial collapse and transformed it via Racing Point into the current Aston Martin. “I tried to be the best driver and the best lawyer,” said Pérez.
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Force India was in severe financial trouble in 2018 because team owner Vijay Mallya was facing legal and financial problems. Pérez, who drove for the team between 2014 and 2020, was still owed a full year’s salary. When it became clear that a supplier had filed for bankruptcy, he decided together with his manager to intervene to prevent bankruptcy. In the High Performance podcast, Pérez looked back on that turbulent period. “I didn’t know much about the law, but I was still owed money. They hadn’t paid my salary for the entire year,” he began.
“There was some delay, but then my manager told me that one of the suppliers had filed for bankruptcy,” Pérez explained. “That meant they could basically shut down the company and the whole team would lose their jobs. I thought: ‘Wow.’ Then I was told: ‘You can save the team.’ We (Pérez and his management, ed.) set the whole process in motion to place the team under administration before the bankruptcy filing was processed, because otherwise the team would have gone bankrupt.”
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Double role
“All the people, the whole team, would have lost their jobs,” emphasized the Mexican. “The current Aston Martin would not have existed then. We had ninety days to find a buyer and luckily Lawrence (Stroll, ed.) came forward. He eventually took over the team while it was under administration.” According to Pérez, the entire rescue operation took place while the F1 season was ongoing. The Mexican had to constantly deal with lawyers and legal procedures during race weekends, alongside his work as a driver. “It was crazy, because all this happened in the summer, when the races followed each other in quick succession. I remember that just before getting in the car, I was having conversations with lawyers while I actually didn’t understand anything about it.”
“I remember having to explain it to all the staff. Of course, it sounded bad: a driver placing his own team under administration. But during the race weekends, I talked to everyone and said: ‘Look, I’m doing this because it’s the best for everyone here. Otherwise, you will lose everything: your jobs, you name it.’ Once I explained it, they calmed down a lot.” Pérez looks back proudly on his double role during that period. “I tried to be the best lawyer for the team and at the same time the best driver. You can try to keep those two worlds separate, but in such a critical phase that was actually impossible. I remember qualifying sessions where, just before getting in the car, I was still sitting at the table with lawyers.”
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