Peace talks prevail for Perez-Ocon partnership

Sergio Perez has worked with team mate Esteban Ocon to restore a peaceful relationship at Force India following the pair's wrangles over the summer.

The Silverstone-based team's drivers found themselves at odds with each other on the race track on multiple occasions, starting in Canada back in June.

A run-in in Azerbaijan painfully denied Force India a chance of a podium finish, but at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, things escalated between the pink panthers after an on-track contact between the two eliminated Perez, forcing the team to change its rules of engagement between its drivers.

The bitter blow enticed both men to clear the air with each other and have common sense prevail following the announcement in Singapore that both will remain with Force India in 2018.

"I think at some point we were not working well together, that came quite apparent," Perez told the media in Sepang.

"Things have changed lately and I think we reached the lowest point in Belgium and I think since then things have moved on.

• Force India duo prep for last visit to 'special and cool' Sepang

"We hit the lowest point and after that we can only go forward. Now we are working well together and that is important for the benefit of the team.

"After Baku we never cleared up the air enough and I think the emotions were still there. What happened there was very particular, not selecting the right engine mode, not having the right energy, having the contact. There were so many things that happened.

"The good thing is now we have cleared up the air and we are working well for the benefit of the team.

"Especially towards next year we really have to maximise every single point if we want to keep our fourth place."

Perez trusts his team mate to race fairly from now on when the two are in close proximity, and to serve the team's interests.

"I think he understands that this cannot carry on, he said.

"At the end of the day we are just another employee of the team and we have hundreds of people working so hard for us so it is important that we maximise the team result."

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