Perez: Force India facing its biggest challenge in F1 2018

Sergio Perez believes Force India will face its biggest challenge to date in Formula 1 as it battles to remain ahead of McLaren and Renault in 2018.

Pre-season testing suggested F1 is set to witness the closest midfield battle in recent years, with the likes of Renault, McLaren, Haas and Toro Rosso all showing promising signs at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya. 

Improvements from both Renault and new customer team McLaren, coupled with the huge resources at both team’s disposal, could result in Force India being relegated down F1’s pecking order, having held a career-best fourth place in the constructors’ standings for the past two years. 

When asked if he is concerned that McLaren and Renault could overtake Force India in 2018, Perez replied: “No, not really. Not so concerned about it. We know it’s going to be a tough battle. There’s some great teams out there. 

“We are going to have the McLaren changing engine, you have Renault closing massively the gap and purely those two teams have more resources than us. 

“Then you have Haas, they have been a massive surprise in testing. So the midfield has become really, really strong.

“But I believe in this team,” he added. “We are facing our biggest challenge yet. In the five years I’ve been with the team I think this is the biggest challenge we are facing. I’m up for it.

Force India opted to test a simpler version of its 2018 F1 challenger in Spain and appeared to be lagging behind some of its direct rivals. 

But Perez is confident the addition of a significant upgrade package at this weekend’s Melbourne season-opener will ensure the Silverstone-based squad remains in the mix. 

“We are not as bad as we look. Especially with the upgrade we are having. We are more optimistic once we see where we really are so I think there are reasons to be optimistic. 

“I have been in that situation before and I think this year we are probably better than we expected to start the season. We will see where we are, [on Friday] we will have a better picture.”