Sergio Perez has opened up about one of the most remarkable behind-the-scenes stories in modern Formula 1 history, involving financial collapse and a last-minute rescue mission.
The Cadillac driver played a pivotal role in saving Force India from bankruptcy in 2018, a team that has since evolved into the current Aston Martin outfit based in Silverstone.
Perez raced for Force India between 2014 and 2018, and the team was facing a winding up petition from a supplier that had not been paid, which would have shut the operation down entirely.
Speaking on the High Performance podcast, Perez explained that he had not been paid his salary for much of the year before the crisis came to a head.
“I had no idea on law, but I was owed some money,” Perez said, revealing that his manager informed him of just how serious the situation had become.
Working alongside his manager Julian Jakobi, Perez took the decision to push the team into administration before the winding up petition could be filed and destroy the outfit completely.
“We did the whole process to put the team in administration before the winding up petition comes in because if we didn’t, the team would have gone bankrupt,” Perez explained on the podcast.
Once in administration, the team had 90 days to find a buyer, and Lawrence Stroll ultimately stepped in to purchase the assets, transforming Force India into what became Racing Point and eventually Aston Martin.
Perez acknowledged how strange it was to be managing legal meetings and driver duties simultaneously, recalling conversations with lawyers happening just before qualifying sessions and races.
“I remember like before going into the car, like having a conversation with lawyers, not understanding it at all,” he said, describing the extraordinary pressure he was under throughout that period.
He also spoke to the team’s staff directly to reassure them about what placing the outfit into administration actually meant for their futures.
“I remember talking to all the staff in one of the races, telling them, ‘Look, I’m doing it because it’s only right for everyone here. Otherwise, you guys are gonna lose everything, all your jobs and so on,'” Perez said.
Perez recalled needing to balance engineering briefings with legal meetings in the hours before race starts, which he described as an almost impossible situation to manage mentally.
“I will be having meetings just before qualifying. I remember in one it was just before qualifying, like literally with lawyers and so, and then jump in the in the car,” he said.
He added that he tried to be the best version of both a lawyer and a driver simultaneously, keeping the team alive while still delivering results on track throughout that turbulent season.
Perez went on to race for Racing Point for two further seasons, and famously won the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix with the restructured outfit before moving to Red Bull and later Cadillac.