A chat with SportPesa Racing Point driver Sergio Perez

Our man at Silverstone Adam Scriven sat down for a chat with SportPesa Racing Point driver Sergio Perez after Friday's practices for the British Grand Prix.

How would you rate your day's work?

It's looking promising. Tenth fastest suggests we should be able to fight for points but the midfield group is super close. One tenth of a second can mean the difference between being eighth and being 18th. But there is a special desire to do well at this race at the team's home track.

Speaking of home tracks, what has it meant to you to race in your home country of Mexico, and how do you feel about the event possibly not being on the calendar next year?

It's been the biggest thing for me to race in front of my home crowd. When I was growing up there were no Mexican drivers in F1 and what attracted me to race in Europe was that it was seen as impossible for a Mexican to succeed in European racing.

F1 is becoming more popular in my country but if we lose the race from the calendar the interest is bound to go down. I've tried to pitch to the organisers the importance of keeping the race to push the popularity of motorsport in Mexico and it's looking positive that a new deal will be done, but in Formula One nothing is certain until you have that contract in your hand.

We know that drivers have to stay fit and eat right to cope with the physical demands of driving, but it's also a very mentally tough job. What do you do, if anything, to help deal with the mental demands of your job?

Away from the race weekend I basically try to switch off from racing entirely. I love playing golf, football, karting - healthy distractions! I don't like to think about F1 until I absolutely have to.

The team gained a new owner in the middle of last year in Lawrence Stroll and he brought a significant cash injection. What differences have you seen since then?

Investment leads to progress and we're certainly seeing the benefits of that, although it won't be until the new regulations come in for 2021 that we expect to see a real improvement.

We have an upgrade coming for the next race in Germany which will hopefully get us back towards where we were last year, as the fourth or fifth-fastest car.

It's a shame that in F1 you don't have a chance to fight for the top positions unless you're in a top team. There's maybe only 0.3 seconds between the fastest and the slowest driver on the grid yet the slowest car is three seconds away.

The drivers have had some input into the new regulations which will hopefully close the gaps. The midfield battle is always intense - I'd love to see that kind of competition for every position.

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