Ocon: Force India not panicking over slow start

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Esteban Ocon insists that Force India isn't panicking after a disappointing start to the 2018 season in Australia.

The team has finished in fourth place in the constructors standings for the last two seasons.

But their performance in Melbourne suggests that the team might have fallen behind rivals such as Renault, Haas and McLaren.

Ocon and his team mate Sergio Perez both finished the season opener outside the top ten. It's the first time that Force India has come away from a race weekend without points since last year's Monaco Grand Prix.

"I suppose some are afraid that after Melbourne things will continue to be like that," Ocon told France's Auto Hebdo this week.

"So that there is no misunderstanding, I want to tell everyone that there is no panic.

"Yes, we are behind - and there is a lot to do to return to the fight for the top five positions," he admitted. "But I'm not worried.

"Last year we struggled in Melbourne too, but we quickly made progress. The season is long.

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"Everything changes very quickly in Formula 1," the 21-year-old French driver added. "And our car has great potential for improvement.

"We already made a big step forward in comparison to the tests. It was easier to drive the car in Australia.

He predicted that the team could turn the corner as early as this weekend's second round race in Bahrain.

"We do not believe that we have failed already," he insisted. "The key to success is development.

"We learned a lot about the chassis in Australia and we are preparing a lot of new parts. Some of them will be on the car in Bahrain already.

"Our car is better and faster than its predecessor. However our rivals made more progress," he admitted.

"We only have small problems. Believe me, we are now trying to put everything right."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.