Esteban Ocon admitted his disappointment with the outcome of Qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, with the Frenchman feeling his Sahara Force India F1 Team did not have the kind of pace they were expecting to have coming into the weekend.
Ocon found himself eliminated from Qualifying around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya at the second hurdle and will start the race on Sunday from thirteenth on the grid, but despite updates to the car this weekend that appear to be working, it was still not enough to make it into the top ten.
“I am a bit disappointed about our end result because we didn’t really have the pace we expected,” said Ocon. “I was happy with how the car was set up and we can see the updates we brought here are working, but we need a little bit more to close the gap with the front of the pack.”
Despite this, Ocon remains confident that he can move forward and challenge for the points on Sunday, with the Frenchman aiming to add to the solitary point he has earned so far in 2018 for his tenth place in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
“I am still feeling positive for tomorrow,” said Ocon. “We are not too far away from the top ten and our race pace is not bad. We need a good start and then we’ll see what we can do.
“Last year I gained five places from start to finish and I’d be happy to do the same this year.”