Sergio Perez has recalled the extraordinary role he played in helping save Force India from collapse during the team’s 2018 financial crisis, arguing that today’s Aston Martin Formula 1 operation would not exist without the intervention. While still racing for the team, the Mexican became involved in the legal process that placed Force India into administration, giving it time to find a buyer rather than risk disappearing altogether.
The episode unfolded years before Sergio Perez joined Red Bull in 2021 and before his current chapter with Cadillac. It also preceded his maiden Formula 1 victory, which came with Racing Point, the team created from Force India’s assets before subsequently becoming Aston Martin.
Force India faced collapse during the 2018 F1 season
The crisis came in 2018, when Force India owner Vijay Mallya was facing severe financial difficulties amid his legal problems. Sergio Perez had been driving for the team since 2014 and was himself owed a substantial amount of money after going unpaid for an extended period.
Speaking on the High Performance podcast, Sergio Perez recalled how little he initially understood about the legal situation developing around the team.
“I knew nothing about law, but they still owed me money. They hadn’t paid my salary for the whole year.”
The situation then became far more serious when his management learned that an unpaid supplier was pursuing a winding-up petition against Force India. That created the risk of the company being shut down and the team’s employees losing their jobs.
“There had been some delay, but then my manager told me that one of the suppliers had filed a winding-up petition. That meant they could shut down the company and the whole team would lose their jobs. I thought, ‘Wow.’ Then I was told, ‘You can save the team.'”
Sergio Perez helped put Force India into administration
Sergio Perez and his management therefore became involved in the process of putting Force India into administration before the winding-up action could bring the operation down completely.
“We started the whole procedure to put the team into administration before the winding-up petition was formalised, because otherwise the team would have gone bankrupt. Everyone, the whole team, would have lost their jobs.”
Administration provided a crucial window in which a buyer could be found.
“The current Aston Martin wouldn’t exist. We had 90 days to find a buyer and fortunately Lawrence Stroll came forward. In the end, he took over the team while it was in administration.”
Lawrence Stroll’s consortium acquired the operation, which subsequently competed as Racing Point before being rebranded as Aston Martin for the 2021 Formula 1 season.
Perez held legal meetings during race weekends
What made the situation even more remarkable was that the legal process unfolded while Sergio Perez was still competing throughout a busy Formula 1 season. The Mexican remembers moving between conversations with lawyers and his normal responsibilities as a Grand Prix driver.
“It was crazy because all of this happened during the summer, when the races were coming one after another. I remember speaking to the lawyers just before getting into the car, even though I actually understood nothing.”
Sergio Perez also had to explain the situation directly to Force India’s employees. From the outside, the idea that one of the team’s own drivers was helping place the company into administration understandably sounded alarming.
“I remember having to explain it to all the staff. Of course, it didn’t sound good: a driver putting his own team into administration.”
His message to the workforce was that the legal action was intended to protect the team rather than destroy it.
“During the race weekends, I spoke to everyone and said, ‘Look, I’m doing this because it’s better for everyone. Otherwise you’ll lose everything: your jobs, everything.’ Once I explained the situation, they calmed down quite a lot.”
Perez tried to be Force India’s best ‘lawyer’ and best driver
Sergio Perez was effectively forced to balance two completely different responsibilities during one of the most difficult periods in Force India’s history: “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 at such a critical stage it was practically impossible.”
Some of the most important legal discussions even took place immediately before Sergio Perez had to climb into the car and compete: “I remember qualifying sessions when, just before getting into the car, I was still sitting at the table with the lawyers.”
The episode became one of the most unusual chapters of Sergio Perez’s Formula 1 career. He was not simply racing for Force India while it faced an existential financial crisis; he and his management became part of the process that gave the team enough time to survive, find a buyer and continue the lineage that eventually became Aston Martin.
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