Sergio Perez claims the often "unpredictable" race at the Australian GP may distort the real competitive order at Formula 1's season-opener.

The street circuit around Albert Park doesn't share too many characteristics with most venues on the calendar and is known to throw up unexpected results through high attrition whether that be from accidents or poor reliability.

Add to that, Perez's Force India team had a somewhat muted pre-season with many wondering just where the fourth-placed squad of the past two years will feature and that is resulting in the Mexican's caution.

“You always arrive in Melbourne full of hope," he stated. "There are lots of unanswered questions and it’s when you really start to understand your competitiveness.

"At the same time, it’s not a typical race because it’s usually quite unpredictable. Often, just finishing the race is the key to getting a good result."

After dominating the midfield last year, expected improvements by McLaren and Renault, as well as a strong pre-season for Toro Rosso and Haas, means the Silverstone-based team is facing a much stiffer challenge to hold on to their position as 'best of the rest'.

“I feel in good shape and ready for the season to start," Perez continued. "I want this to be my best year in F1 and I want to be back on the podium.

"During testing, we saw that all the midfield teams are quite close together in terms of performance. I also think the gap to the front of the grid is smaller. Let’s see what happens."

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One story to follow will be the fight between the 27-year-old and his young teammate Esteban Ocon after their confrontations last year.

Offering his assessment ahead of the trip Down Under, the Frenchman was a little more upbeat.

“I’d like to think we can fight for points in Melbourne," he said. "We had a really solid second week of testing in Barcelona, I feel comfortable in the car and it’s very consistent.

"We have new parts coming for the race so hopefully, that’s another performance step.”