Sergio Perez admits he could leave Force India at the end of the current season despite owner Vijay Mallya's recent announcement he had been signed for another year.
Perez has been non-committal on his Force India future, stating he wishes to keep his options open until after the summer break. The Mexican driver says his sponsors will play a part in deciding where he drives next season.
Explaining the situation further at Hockenheim, the Mexican driver said: "It's up to me and the group of sponsors on what to do because the decision is not only down to me. I am a very lucky driver to have so much support and we always... If we are moving around teams we take the decision together with the group of sponsors that I have and that decision has not been taken."
When asked if he could leave Force India at the end of 2016, he simply replied: "Yes".
After this weekend's German Grand Prix, there are no races for four weeks as F1 moves into its summer break. Perez hopes that period of time will be enough to get some clarity on where he will be next season.
"I hope I can come back after the summer break knowing what the future holds for me -- that would be ideal. But you never know in this business, it takes sometimes... Because my deals are not so simple.
"I have a lot of sponsors that have to do deals, so it takes longer than if I was a driver going into another team or doing just a contract deal just with Force India etc. so in that respect, but I hope at least I can come back from the summer break knowing what's going to happen with my future."