Sergio Perez admits Force India is behind its rivals

Force India’s Sergio Perez has admitted that the late appearance of its 2015 car means it will start the season with a disadvantage to its midfield rivals.

After taking the fight to the massively better-funded McLaren team last year, Force India suffered a winter of turmoil that delayed the production of its VJM08 challenger.

Perez – who only drove the car for the first time in the final day of testing on Sunday – admits this will have consequences, as the new chassis has had just two days of running.

“Obviously we are a couple of steps behind our opposition, but that’s a reality – we cannot hide it,” said Perez. “I think it will take us a couple of races to get where we want to be.

“An important thing is that we have a very clear direction of where we need to improve the car, the steps we need to make as a team, so that makes me a bit more comfortable. But it’s a lot of work ahead of us.

“I’m going into Melbourne with just one day in the car, so it’s not ideal and we have to make the best out of the situation.”

Motorsport.com recently went behind the scenes with one of Force India's main suppliers, and you can read that story HERE.