Sergio Perez hails his and McLaren's 2013 F1 preparations

The Mexican is joining the British squad after two years at Sauber, and will partner Jenson Button during the upcoming season after replacing Lewis Hamilton.

Speaking during the launch of the new MP4-28, Perez hailed the preparation work he has gone through since he joined McLaren, saying he has never been fitter in his life.

"We have done an incredible job to prepare ourselves," said Perez. "I have never been this fit and still have one month to go, so I am enthusiastic.

"When I come here, I work through like Ayrton [Senna], my idol, so it is a very good motivation."

Perez said he has already spent a significant amount of time working with McLaren's simulator before taking to the track at Jerez next week.

"So far I have done more or less 15-20 days in the simulator. Obviously I am not very used to a simulator. It's the first time that I have worked so much with one and it has been good and I am really getting used to the car.

"The feeling is quite different. It's not so easy to feel the car in the simulator. I have done good improvements in terms of understanding the simulator and understanding the [set-up] changes.

"The most important thing for me is to understand car and understand what issues I might have when we get to testing and racing."

The McLaren driver admitted it was hard to judge how competitive McLaren will be until it gets to the first race in Australia.

"There are no guarantees. I haven't tried the McLaren yet," he said. "The most important thing is to maximise our potential, maximise our understanding.

"It will be difficult in winter testing to have an understanding, but once we get to Melbourne when it is hot we will have a better idea of the tyres."

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