Esteban Ocon: 'We're moving in the right direction'

Force India's Esteban Ocon was in the top three long-distance runners today, clocking in with 142 laps under his belt as development continued untroubled for the team's VJM10.

The French driver ran flawlessly through a varied programme which included long and short runs, completing a productive day of work.

"I am very happy with our work today," Ocon said.

"To complete more than 140 laps without issues is a good effort and allowed us to cover a lot of ground.

"We did some long stints and also some performance runs, which were very interesting: we kept working on both the chassis and the tyres, but we managed to include aero and engine work too."

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At the end of the day, Ocon feels the progress is real, as much for the car as for himself as both team and driver ramp up their efforts with Melbourne now in their sights.

"I can see we are making progress compared to last week: every time we go out we get to try new solutions and I feel we are moving in the right direction."

Force India chief race engineer Tom McCullough praised Ocon for his consistency and performance.

"We covered 142 laps and Esteban didn’t put a foot wrong all day," said McCullough.

"We definitely learnt a lot and this is something that will help us for the rest of the week.

"Today was also a good occasion to work with Esteban on some of our race weekend procedures: Melbourne is only one day in the car away for him, effectively, so it was crucial to make the most of his time in the car.

"Every lap we do helps us progress on what is a very steep learning curve with the new cars.

"We feel the analysis of the data from last week has set us in the right direction and we are aiming to continue on this path for the remainder of the week."

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