Esteban Ocon has expressed his disappointment at being forced out of qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix at the end of Q1 due to a brake issue.
This race also marks the final event before the summer shutdown, which will give drivers and team personnel a chance to relax and unwind, following four races in the past five weekends: France, Austria, Great Britain, Germany and Hungary.
The Sahara Force India Formula One Team driver was confident there was potential to be able to take advantage of the wet conditions.
“It’s disappointing to be out in Q1, but we had an issue with the brakes that held us back,” said Ocon, who was joined in missing out on advancing by team-mate Sergio Pérez. “I pitted for slicks when the track was improving and my break pedal went long.
“We tried to optimise the situation as much as we could, cooling down the brakes, but that meant I couldn’t drive the car at 100%. We definitely had much more than this in the tank.
“The weather out there was very tricky and we could have taken advantage of the conditions because normally we are really strong in the wet.
“Given all that happened, though, I am happy not to be last on the grid. We can come back tomorrow and we will push hard to make it back into the points.”
