In a tense mid-field battle, Esteban Ocon fought his way into tenth place with just two laps to go in the 2018 Bahrain Grand Prix to score Sahara Force India‘s first point of the year.
Ocon started the race from eighth and endured a race-long battle with the likes of Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz Jr. Although Ocon stole tenth place in the dying stages of the race, the Frenchman remains disappointed to slip back from his starting position.
“It was a very tough race and there was never really a chance to catch my breath,” said Ocon. “I was always pushing, always fighting, always chasing.
“We are right in the middle of the midfield fight and it was a nice reward to overtake Carlos [Sainz] with just two laps to go and score the final point.
“I’m a bit disappointed that we didn’t get more from this race, especially starting from eighth place, but we did the best we could in the circumstances.”
Force India’s first point of the season shows some improvement from the squad who failed to score at the opening race in Australia. And Ocon insists that the team must continue to find more performance.
“The main positive to take from this weekend is the improvement we made compared to Melbourne.
“We need to keep working in the same direction to find more performance in China next week.”
