Sergio Perez was "stunned" by Hulkenberg's transfer

Sergio Perez has admitted that he was shocked when former team mate Nico Hulkenberg left Force India.

Hulkenberg left the Silverstone based team at the end of the 2016 season to join Renault for 2017 in a bid to get to the front of the grid.

The German will take the place of Kevin Magnussen who is off to join Haas who will compete in their second season of F1 next year.

"To be honest, I was quite stunned about it," Perez said.

"I knew Nico was very high on their list and I knew if I didn't go there they'd definitely look at him," said Perez. "They are taking a great driver.

"When he went, only time will tell who took the right decision but yeah I'm happy with the three seasons that I had together with him."

Despite being surprised by the move, Perez understands why Hulkenberg made the decision.

"We spent three years working together and they went really quick," added Perez. "I think we learned a lot from each other.

"It's time for Nico to move on to a new challenge. Nico had been longer than myself in the team, so he probably felt the need to work with new people, something different, to learn new things.

"It was great to learn so many things from Nico."

Fergal Walsh