Esteban Ocon felt the results of Qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix left the Sahara Force India F1 Team with too much work to do to score points on Sunday, with the Frenchman struggling to thirteenth position at the Hungaroring.
Ocon had found himself elimination from Qualifying at the first hurdle as the weather played a part in proceedings on Saturday, and from seventeenth on the grid, he admitted the challenge to break into the points from there was always going to be difficult, particularly as the VJM11 did not have the kind of pace necessary to do so, with the Frenchman losing twelfth in the closing stages as Nico Hülkenberg made his way passed on fresher tyres.
“A difficult race for us and we knew it was going to be a big challenge to score points today,” said Ocon. “The start of the race was strong and we made up a few positions, but we didn’t have enough pace to recover from the back of the grid and fight for points.
“I enjoyed some good battles with the Renaults, but the problems in qualifying yesterday really determined our result today.”
Ocon and the rest of the Force India team will now have some time off with the summer break coming after this week’s two-day test at the same venue, where test driver Nicholas Latifi and development driver Nikita Mazepin will share the driving duties.
“We have a few weeks off now and there is still a long way to go in the second half of the season,” said Ocon. “Everybody deserves a rest so that we can come back stronger in Spa.”
