Force India
Esteban Ocon
“It feels great to finish in seventh after such a strong performance from the whole team. I am very happy with what we achieved this weekend: we improved in every session and never went backwards. From the mechanics to the engineers, everyone did a great job and we can be proud. I feel there is nothing more we could have extracted from the car: the only negative from the race was a poor start, but I managed to get those positions back before the first lap was over, so it was all good in the end. Finishing in the points in all of the first four races is a great way to start the season and the best I could have hoped for. We are in fourth position going into Barcelona, where we expect some upgrades to be on our car, so we can be confident about the future.”
Sergio Perez
“Sixth place feels very satisfying and with Esteban in seventh it has been a really positive day for the team. We’ve consolidated our fourth place in the championship and I’m seventh in the drivers’ championship – which is a tremendous effort from the first four races. The race today was not especially exciting for me because I was always on my own in clean air – chasing the cars ahead and pulling away from the cars behind. So there were no on-track battles and I could simply focus on managing my race and bringing home the points. The team did a great job with the strategy – waiting until the right moment to pit and not coming in too soon. Once again, we took all the opportunities that were on the table and we can feel very happy tonight.”
Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal
“Congratulations to the whole team on another double points finish. The 14 points scored strengthen our fourth place in the championship and are a nice reward for a weekend where we maximised all our opportunities. Esteban achieved his best ever result in Formula One and continues his 100% points-scoring record with us. Sergio’s sixth place means he has now finished in the points in fourteen consecutive races and that’s a wonderful achievement. The one-stop strategy was clearly the way to go today and we made all the correct calls from the pit wall. All in all it’s been a very encouraging weekend: the car has worked well; we’ve made good progress with our qualifying speed and scored points once again with both cars on Sunday.”
