Force India is preparing for a difficult weekend as it arrives at the Spanish Grand Prix without any updates to its car.
The start of the European season is traditionally used as a target for the first major upgrade of the year, but the specification of the Force India VJM08 remains unchanged since the last time it was in Barcelona during pre-season testing. The car had a belated launch due to cash-flow problems and has struggled for pace at the opening rounds, although there is light at the end of the tunnel in the form of a B-spec Force India at the British Grand Prix.
"We are pushing very hard in the factory, trying to bring the package altogether," Sergio Perez said. "At the moment we would love to have the package for Barcelona, which didn't happen. We expect Silverstone will be the first time we have a new package [on the current car]."
However, Perez thinks the team has done a good job of damage limitation in the circumstances.
"I think the first four races have been better than expected. To be 10 or 12 points behind Red Bull is a massive effort for us coming out of the first four races. We need to be optimistic; we've been lacking a lot of pace so the effort has been pretty special considering where the basic pace of the car is.
"We are going to have another race similar to the first four. I think this one is going to be particularly difficult for us, downforce is where we are lacking the most pace so I expect a difficult one. But on the other hand, no more difficult than other weekends. Optimistic, but it's difficult when you don't have any upgrades and other teams are bringing upgrades so let's see what we can do."