Despite being the number one target for McLaren for 2019 earlier this year, Sergio Pérez has revealed that his future lies at Force India, as he's already signed a pre-contract at the Pink Panthers.
McLaren have already signed their two drivers for 2019 now in Carlos Sainz Junior and Lando Norris, but when there was interest in Checo earlier this year, he was never going to make the switch.
"It's not that McLaren didn't choose me," he told ESPN at a press conference in Guadalajara.
"There was interest from them, but not so much from me and I have a clear view of what I want in the future.
"I've been saying for weeks that the contract is signed [at Force India], that hasn't changed."
Pérez is currently in his eighth season in F1, and had a standout performance this season in Azerbaijan, where he snatched a podium-place for Force India.
The Mexican rates himself highly, and he thinks it's a pity that he can't really show to the world how good he is.
"It's a shame I still haven't been able to show my potential yet because the Formula 1 is very unfair."
"When a team can't grow because of many circumstances, it's hard to get a chance at Mercedes or Ferrari."
Still, Pérez has been on the team that's finished best of the rest in the past two seasons, despite operating on the lowest budget in F1. If new owner Lawrence Stroll can inject the team with some serious cash, who knows what the team will be able to do.
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