Sergio Perez joins Force India

Force India completed one of the much talked about signing of the year by confirming that Sergio Perez would join Nico Hulkenberg for next season of F1. Mexican driver was released by Mclaren.

Silverstone based Force India’s spokesperson said that the deal was a multi-year deal.

“Coming here (Force India) was always my first choice and I’m really happy everything has now been confirmed. I want to say thank you to Vijay (Mallya) and the whole team for giving me the opportunity,” Perez said on Thursday.

“This is a young team with a lot of determination and they’ve produced competitive cars for the last few years,” the 23-year-old added.

The Mexican finished 10th in 2012 with Sauber and had two second-place finishes in the Malaysian and Italian Grand Prix. After a modest 2013 season with McLaren, Perez was placed 11th in Drivers’ Standings with 49 points.

“There is no doubt that Perez is a fantastic driver and will make a great pairing for the 2014 season. He will also bring substantial amount of sponsorship from Carlos Slim,” a source close to the F1 team told TOI on Thursday.

World richest man Carlos Slim’s Telmex company provides sponsorship of approximately $15 million to Perez. This input will definitely help Co-owner of Force India Vijay Mallya and Subrata Roy.

“It’s a pleasure to welcome Sergio into the team. He brings a healthy mix of youth and experience,” Force India team principal Vijay Mallya said.

“We also recognize Sergio’s incredible talent and we are proud to have him in our team. By pairing Sergio alongside Nico, we enter the new season with an extremely competitive line-up, which will go toward helping us achieve our goals for the new season,” he added.

2014 Driver Line-up:

Red Bull: Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo; Ferrari: Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen; Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg; Lotus: Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado; McLaren: Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen; Force India: Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez; Williams: Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas; Toro Rosso: Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat.