• Australian Grand Prix

'We are not in the position we want to be' - Perez

Sergio Perez: The approach we have to take is to have a full team working flat-out © Sutton Images

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• Drivers:
• Sergio Perez

• Teams:
• McLaren

Sergio Perez says McLaren is still short of where it would like to be ahead of the first race of the season this weekend in Australia.

McLaren's pre-season testing programme did not go exactly to plan after the team decided to pursue a different concept with its 2013 car. The new car layout resulted in set-up changes taking longer than before and some of the parts brought to the car were shelved for further development.

Perez said McLaren made progress with its car in the last two dry days of testing, but that there is still plenty of work to do.

"We achieved quite a lot, but the approach is the same," he said. "We are not in the position we want to be in right now and the approach we have to take is to have a full team working flat-out to make the car better. It's the same as everybody in the paddock and we have to find performance and maximise our weekend. We don't really know what result we can get, especially with the changing conditions through the weekend because we are expecting some rain on Saturday."

Perez said McLaren is still in the dark about its competitiveness but that his target is to win this weekend.

"It's a weekend where you don't really know what's going to happen and you don't really know where you are. We don't know what to expect but obviously the target is to win, in the same way as we will approach all 19 races. A realistic target ... we don't know where we are and we will see this weekend."

Perez is confident he can perform well this weekend compared to his team-mate Jenson Button.

"I'm quite confident I can do quite a good job. The car itself is not in the position that we want to be. There is some work to be done in the car to try and get the maximum performance from the car. But myself, I think I will see where I am, especially compared to Jenson, because he will be my main reference this weekend and at testing it is quite difficult to see."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.