Perez still targeting "theoretical fourth" for Force India

Sergio Perez says his goal is to score enough points for Force India to “theoretically finish fourth” in the constructors’ championship.

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Force India took fourth place in the last two seasons. However its points tally this year was wiped out after the Hungarian Grand Prix when it went into administration and re-entered F1 as a new team.

Perez has previously said he wanted to end the season knowing the team would have finished fourth if those points hadn’t been deducted.

“At the moment we’re seventh so the next target is sixth, which will be amazing if we manage to beat McLaren before the end of the season,” he said ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix.

“But to me that’s irrelevant. To me I want to do my calculation after Abu Dhabi how many points we scored this year and if we finish fourth or not. That’s very easy mathematics to do and that’s my biggest target to theoretically finish fourth at the end of the year.”

The team suffered a setback in Singapore when Perez collided with team mate Esteban Ocon and neither scored. However both the team’s cars took points in the two races since then.

Perez confirmed after Sunday’s race in Japan he still has fourth in the championship in his mind.

“I’ve always said for me in the back of my mind P4 in the championship, in the constructors, that is what matters,” he said. “We just want to claim as many positions as possible.”

The team is seventh in the championship on 43 points, 15 behind McLaren. With the 59 points which was deducted it would be fourth on 102 points, 10 ahead of Renault.

Don’t miss today’s edition of Dieter Rencken’s RacingLines column looking at how close Force India came to collapse plus the latest on whether they will receive the millions in prize money some rival teams have disputed.

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2018 F1 season

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15 comments on “Perez still targeting “theoretical fourth” for Force India”

John Beak (@johnbeak)
10th October 2018, 9:44
Checo sets the goal for his team to be Fourth India.
1. Phylyp (@phylyp)
  10th October 2018, 9:56
  @johnbeak – LOL
Jere (@jerejj)
10th October 2018, 10:33
I doubt they could achieve fourth in the Constructors’ Championship this season anymore. The gap to Renault is a bit too big to claw back entirely in only four races.
1. Phylyp (@phylyp)
  10th October 2018, 10:37
  @jerejj – theoretical fourth: as in points scored by FI + points scored by RFPI
  Not true fourth.
  1. Jere (@jerejj)
    10th October 2018, 10:48
    @phylyp Yes, but I indeed meant ‘actually’ achieve fourth, of course. Yes, ‘theoretically’ they are fourth now already, but in reality, they aren’t going to achieve it anymore this season due to the gap.
    1. Joao (@johnmilk)
      10th October 2018, 11:19
      Theoretically they are fifth, Renault is fourth
      1. ColdFly (@)
        10th October 2018, 11:58
        And hypothetically they are second in their championship.
      2. Godwin Joseph (@godwin)
        10th October 2018, 12:11
        but physically they are seventh the the championship.
      3. Godwin Joseph (@godwin)
        10th October 2018, 12:13
        but physically they are seventh in the championship.
      4. bharat (@bharat141)
        10th October 2018, 12:31
        Theoretically, FI have a score of 102 of which 59 were scored as SFI and 43 as RPFI. Renault has only 92. So FI are theoretically 4th in constructors championship with 10 points lead over Renault
      5. Joao (@johnmilk)
        10th October 2018, 14:13
        @bharat141 for some reason I used the standings from @coldfly‘s comment ahah
        you are absolutely right mate, apologies for the confusion
frogster
10th October 2018, 18:28
He should be thankful he’s still racing in the championship
Pedro Andrade
10th October 2018, 22:02
I think Pérez is very right about setting this goal, and talking about it often. It must have been very demoralizing for the team to lose all those points, so setting this mental target for the team should help keep people motivated to preserve their pride
XAVI
11th October 2018, 2:06
Everybody at RPFI is thankful and aiming at an even theoretical 4th is the right mindset.
abel
11th October 2018, 10:09
#1 team by Points / Dollar.
this level of ambition and competitiveness makes RPFI the team they are: consistently punching above their weight.
Also, good to see PER regain form lately…. shame the Ocon – Perez interaction, it has cost both each & the team.