McLaren Wants Sergio Perez To Drive At The IndyCar Championship

McLaren would be interested in holding talks with Sergio Perez over a drive for their IndyCar team in 2021. The Mexican driver announced on Wednesday that he was leaving the Racing Point team. Perez is being replaced by 4-time world champion Sebastian Vettel who will join Racing Point in 2021 when it is rebranded to Aston Martin. 

As of now, Sergio Perez does not have a drive for 2021 although it is likely that options at Haas and Alpha Romeo would soon open up. While leaving Racing Point Perez indicated that he didn't have a Plan B and did not have an offer on the table though he was considering remaining in the sport if the right package was offered to him. Perez said that he would consider a move to another sport if he did not find anything attractive in Formula One.

Fernando Alonso drove for McLaren in IndyCar
Photo Credit: AFP

He previously had expressed interest in IndyCar and said one day he would like to race in the Indianapolis 500. McLaren's CEO Zak Brown said it was unfortunate that Perez has lost his seat at Racing Point. He said, that he would like to hold talks with him if he was interested in IndyCar.

"He'll probably end up in Formula 1, [that] is my guess, at either Haas or Alfa Romeo," said Brown. "But if he had an interest in IndyCar, I think he's a great racecar driver, and we'd definitely be interested in talking to him," he told Motorsport.com.

In 2020 McLaren moved full time into IndyCar through partnerships with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports establishing Arrows McLaren SP. The team currently has Oliver Askew and Pato O'Ward in full-time entries. 

McLaren is now a full-time player in IndyCar

This year they also ran an additional 3rd car at the Indy 500 for Fernando Alonso who returns to Formula One after a hiatus of 2 years Renault in 2021. This marks the end of McLaren's relationship with the two-time world champion. Brown said that even though McLaren just has two cars at IndyCar this year it would be opened to having a 3rd car with Perez in it.