Esteban Ocon secured his third consecutive tenth place finish of the season at the Bahrain International Circuit but felt that the timing of the safety car denied him an even better finishing position, with the Frenchman believing seventh was possible.
The Sahara Force India F1 Team driver was compromised by the safety car, having just made a pit stop, and as a result was unable to better tenth, which he was disappointed about, especially after making a great start to advance four places from his starting position.
Ocon believes that the pace of the VJM10 is much better in race conditions than it was during Saturday’s qualifying, with the Frenchman having qualified fourteenth in Bahrain.
“It’s good to get another point, but the timing of the safety car didn’t help me today and probably cost me three positions,” said Ocon. “It’s a shame because the team did everything right, but the safety car came out just after I had made my first pit stop. So the luck was not on my side.
“Apart from that, it was a really fun race and I had to fight really hard. My start was very strong – I gained four places in the first few corners and that was really enjoyable. We showed again that our car is strong in race conditions – probably better than in qualifying – and that’s important because you only score points on Sunday.
“My target coming into the season was to score points in every race so I’m pleased to have scored in all three so far, but I know we had the potential to score even more points. As a team we are doing a good job and I think there’s much more to come from us in the next few races.”
