F1 star reveals he put team into administration in desperate bid to save jobs

Sergio Perez platica con Max Verstappen en Bahréin — Photo: © IMAGO

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F1 star reveals he put team into administration in desperate bid to save jobs

Sergio Perez raced for Force India between 2014-2020

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Wednesday 15 July 2026 09:43 Updated: 09:52

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F1 star Sergio Perez has revealed that he helped to save a struggling F1 team from going completely bankrupt.

Perez is now at a new outfit in Cadillac, but has previously driven for a number of teams, including Sauber, Red Bull and Racing Point.

That Racing Point outfit were the Silverstone-based team, who are now Aston Martin, but they started off life as Jordan, before becoming Midland and Spyker in the mid-2000s, but were then bought out by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya.

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Mallya named the team Force India, and they operated under that name between 2008-2018, with Perez racing for them between 2014-2018.

However, Force India struggled financially in the 2017 and 2018 seasons, and were eventually put into financial administration, before Lawrence Stroll bought their assets and they became Racing Point.

Perez would race an extra two seasons with Racing Point, winning the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix with them, but he has now revealed that it was he that helped save many of his colleagues' jobs at Force India two years prior to that.

Force India were weeks away from going bankrupt and receiving a winding up petition, but Perez turned lawyer and helped to get the financial administrators in.

The team are now known as Aston Martin, and are now looking to become a championship-challenging outfit in the sport in the coming years.

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How did Perez save an F1 team?

Perez has now told the full story of his involvement in saving the Silverstone-based outfit.

"I had no idea on law, but I was owed some money," Perez revealed on the High Performance podcast. "They didn't pay my salary for like for the entire year. Like we were having a bit of delays, but then my manager told me that there was a winding up petition from one of the suppliers that hadn't been paid. That means they can basically shut down the company and the whole team will lose their job. I was like, 'wow,' and it was said 'you can save it.' We (with manager Julian Jakobi) did the whole process to put the team in administration before the winding up petition comes in because if we didn't, the team would have gone bankrupt.

"All the people, all the team [would have lost their jobs]. So at the time it was Force India, which is now Aston Martin. Aston Martin wouldn't exist. We had 90 days to find a buyer, and luckily for the team came Lawrence [Stroll], and ended up buying the team while we were in administration.

"It was crazy because all of this was happening in the summer. Actually, during race after race. So I remember, like before going into the car, like having a conversation with lawyers, not understanding it at all.

"I remember like telling all my people around because it sounds bad the driver is putting the team in administration. I remember talking to all the the staff in one of the races, telling them, 'Look, I'm doing it because it's only right for for everyone here. Otherwise, you guys are gonna lose everything, all your jobs and so on.' So I end up explaining them how it worked, and so they were a lot more calm.

"I end up trying to be the best, let's say, lawyer I can be for the team, and the best driver trying to separate when I had to jump in in the car.

"You couldn't separate it at that because it was at a stage that was very critical. So I will be having meetings just before qualifying. I remember in one it was just before qualifying, like literally with with lawyers and so, and then jump in the in the car, and then before the race, instead of being with the engineers, I was with some other meetings, but I was there. I had to do it and have to save the team at that that point as well."

Written by

Sam Cook - Digital Journalist

Sam Cook is a talented young sports journalist and social media professional who now specialises in Formula 1, having previously worked as a football journalist and a local news reporter for a variety of different brands.

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F1 Aston Martin Sergio Perez Lawrence Stroll Force India