Sergio Perez does not believe Force India's longer wheelbase design will be a disadvantage at this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix and feels the team should still be competitive.
This year's aerodynamic regulation changes have resulted in some teams opting to design longer cars than others, with the aim of creating a car that benefits aerodynamically on the straights, while remaining stable in high-speed corners. Concerns have been raised whether such a design will compromise teams' performance around the tight and twisty streets of Monaco.
Force India's 2017 challenger has a 3,691 millimetre long wheelbase, making it the second longest car behind Mercedes' W08 -- which tops out at 3,760 millimetres. Despite suggestions that a longer wheelbase could prove to be a disadvantage, Perez reckons it will not prove to be a big factor.
"I think we are aware that Mercedes is just a bit longer than us, so I don't think so," Perez said. "I think it is more important the load that you can generate through the car than the length, but that's something that will be quite interesting."
Force India has made a strong start to the season and is the only team to have scored points with both its cars in every race so far, while Perez is enjoying a streak of 15 consecutive races inside the top ten. The Mexican praised his team for "over-delivering" on its way to holding fourth place in the constructors' standings in the early stages of the campaign.
"I think we did a good step [in Spain] but we seemed to lack a bit of knowledge in terms of our competition having issues but also in qualifying, which we seem to outperform massively -- the pace that we have shown all weekend. Barcelona is normally our weakest track so I think we've done a good step, I want to believe so. Monaco again is a very different track to the last one and I think we should be competitive here.
"When you look at our pace, where we are. I am a point away from Verstappen, two or three away from Ricciardo, which is a car that is probably a second a lap quicker than us at every grand prix on average. Definitely the team over delivers with the pace we have.
"We are beating Williams, which is also quite a bit quicker than us, especially in the beginning of the season and other teams that in the beginning were not as strong and we've been over delivering and the team just works really well. It's just a matter of maximising what we have and I think the team has done a tremendous job in that respect."