Force India supremo Vijay Mallya has said that Sergio Perez is definitely staying at the Silverstone-based team in 2017.
Earlier at Silverstone, Mexican Perez - who had been linked with the now re-signed Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari seat - said that he would not turn his mind to next season until the summer break.
"At some point I will see what options I have on the market and make the best decision, but it's a good situation to have options," he said.
Yet according to Mallya, who amid his Indian legal troubles is making a rare paddock appearance this weekend, Perez was actually signed up for 2017 a week ago.
"We are very happy with Nico [Hulkenberg] and Checo," said the former Indian billionaire.
"We used to wait almost to the onset of winter before we announced our driver lineup but this time we signed both for 2017 well in advance -â and of course today's announcement by Ferrari put to rest a lot of speculation that has been taking place in the last several weeks."
Perez has 39 points on the board ahead of Sunday's British Grand Prix.
