Force India caps milestone 200th race with double-points finish

It was a chase from behind for the pink cars, tinted with a bit of luck, but Force India's Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez celebrated the team's 200th Grand Prix weekend with a bag full of points.

Both drivers qualified out of the top ten on Saturday and both expected to have their work cut out for them at the outset, especially Perez who launched his race from P15 on the grid.

Ocon and his team mate kept it clean however at the start, eventually settling down to focus on consistency and even relying on each other to improve their position in the mid-field.

A few retirements up ahead came in handy but at the end of the day they completed their race running nose to tail with Ocon crossing the checkered in sixth place, his team mate right behind.

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"I’m happy with this result and it’s a very good day for the team," said the Frenchman.

"We can be really pleased with our performance today. We managed our tyres well and made the one-stop race work when others around us were struggling.

"We kept our tyres going until the end and we also showed great teamwork with Checo as we swapped places to chase Magnussen. I think we showed where this team is strong. "

Perez echoed his team mate's comments but also expressed a sense of pride associated with the day's milestone achievement.

"It’s been a really positive day for the team," said the Mexican.

"We have come away with important points from a weekend that was quite challenging in the lead up to the race.

"Starting from P15 on the grid and finishing seventh is a great effort and we should be proud of this achievement.

"Yes, there were some cars that retired ahead of us, but we raced well and made our strategy work so that we could take advantage of these opportunities.

"We didn’t pit under the Virtual Safety Car, like many others did, but the strategy we chose worked really well and I had strong pace all afternoon, especially in the closing laps. I wanted to chase down Magnussen at the end, but it just wasn’t possible."

The mid-field battle will resume as early as next weekend with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, a home race for Force India which hopes to benefit from a long-awaited update to its VJM11.

"Hopefully the next updates will keep bringing performance to the car and we can keep the momentum going," said Ocon.

"The championship battle in the midfield is going to be very close until the end of the season and we need to keep pushing."

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