Force India racer Sergio Perez is hoping that his team will continue on their charge to the front of the grid in 2017.
The 2016 championship season was a strong one for them as they beat Williams to finish fourth behind the top three teams, Mercedes, Red Bull Racing and Ferrari, but Perez, who will remain with the Indian outfit again this year, believes this may be their biggest opportunity to improve even further and hopefully finish in the top three….
"Next year is our big opportunity to keep overachieving. To move forward with the rule changes is our biggest opportunity, to try to get in the top three at the end of the year,” he said. "Every year we have been moving up, so I see good potential, good people."
"I think the budget is quite good for next year in terms of what we can do in terms of upgrades. We are not in the position of the big teams, but I see good potential. If we get it right next year, we can definitely be in the top-three fight."
Nico Hulkenberg has left the team for Renault in 2017 with Esteban Ocon set to partner the Mexican instead.
“We've had our eye on Esteban for a number of years and have followed his progress through the junior categories where he delivered outstanding results,” said Team Principal Vijay Mallya of his new signing.
Perez proved to be extremely valuable to the team in 2016 and there is no doubt that this pairing will deliver some strong results.
"We have shown again – it is not how you start the year, it is how you end the year and we started the year lacking quite a lot of pace, but we worked hard and developed the car, between us drivers and engineering, and the factory. It was just an incredible year for us."
