Formula 1: Could Sergio Perez drive for Ferrari in the 2019 season?

By Asher Fair | May 3, 2018

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 24: Sergio Perez of Mexico and Force India looks on in the garage during final practice for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park on March 24, 2018 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) /

Could Sahara Force India driver Sergio Perez potentially end up driving for Scuderia Ferrari in the 2019 Formula 1 season?

There is a great chance that Scuderia Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, the 38-year-old who is driving for the team on a one-year deal for the third consecutive Formula 1 season, may not be back driving for the team in the 2019 season, causing suggestions to be made about potential replacement candidates for him.

One of those potential replacement candidates is Sergio Perez, the 28-year-old veteran who currently drives for Sahara Force India and has done so since the 2014 season, his fourth season in the sport after arriving to Formula 1 in the 2011 season.

Perez has driven full-time in Formula 1 since the 2011 season when he started out as a driver for Sauber. He continued driving for Sauber in the 2012 season before going to McLaren for one season in 2013. Ever since switching from McLaren to Force India in the 2014 season, he has driven for the latter.

With seven-plus years of Formula 1 experience under his belt, Perez has shown that he has what it takes to compete on a high level in the world’s top open-wheel racing series. This is the case despite the fact that he has never driven for a top-tier team and has never even won a race in 138 career starts.

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While he has not won a race so far in his Formula 1 career, Perez has been extremely consistent and has several solid results, especially given the fact that he has never had the luxury of working with top-tier equipment.

In his 138 career Formula 1 starts, Perez has racked up eight podium finishes, including two career-high 2nd place finishes in the 2012 season in the Malaysian Grand Prix and the Italian Grand Prix.

While he failed to finish on the podium in a single race last season for the first time since he drove for McLaren in the 2013 season, Perez had arguably his best season in 2017. He averaged a career-high five points per race and tied his career-high of a 7th place finish in the drivers standings after posting a career-high of 17 top 10 finishes.

The fact that Perez has had the success that he has had during his eight-year career so far driving for the teams that he has driven for should speak for itself. It should undoubtedly cause Ferrari to give him a look as a possible replacement for Raikkonen in the 2019 season if Raikkonen does, indeed, leave the team following the conclusion of the 2018 season.

While there are other potential replacement candidates for Raikkonen such as Charles Leclerc, Daniel Ricciardo and Antonio Giovinazzi, there is no doubt that Perez has about as good of a chance as anyone does in terms of driving for Ferrari alongside four-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel in the 2019 season.

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Will Sergio Perez end up driving for Scuderia Ferrari in the 2019 Formula 1 season? There are certainly several candidates who could end up replacing Kimi Raikkonen if he does, indeed, retire, and Perez is certainly one of them.

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