Force India Deputy Team Principal Bob Fernley insists the team want to retain their current line-up of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez for 2018 despite recent tensions and interest from elsewhere.
Both drivers are likely to continue with the current fourth-placed team in the Constructors’ standings as Ocon signed a multi-year deal when joining from Manor at the end of last year and Perez was reportedly close to a deal before the Belgian Grand Prix but incidents in Canada, Baku and Spa have led to questions as to whether their partnership is tenable.
New team instructions were introduced from Monza, though not needed, and Fernley insists though it is a difficult situation for the Silverstone outfit, their competitiveness and results are worth it.
“We’ll do everything in our power to maintain the driver line-up we have today,” he told Autosport. “We’re in a very fortunate position in that, like the top three teams, we’ve got two super-talented drivers, and we’re going to need that in order to battle for fourth place in 2018, or hopefully even go higher.
“The last thing we want to do is to lose talent.”
Ocon’s performances, in particular, have caught the eye in his first full season as the Mercedes junior has scored points in all but one of the 12 races so far and that has led to some interest from Renault, the team he was with as a reserve driver before joining Manor from Spa.
“Esteban is contracted with us effectively for three years, but two of them are absolutely secure,” Fernley claimed, rejecting any idea of the 20-year-old departing. “From a contractual point of view it’s clear, and I don’t think Esteban has got any ideas of wishing to go anywhere else at this point.
“You’ve got to remember that we identified the potential of Esteban some time ago,” he added, referring to how they chose Ocon over Pascal Wehrlein for this season, “and we obviously took the opportunity where others didn’t, including Renault, to sign him last year.
“We’ve now got the benefit of that, and we want to make sure that we optimise that.”
