Esteban Ocon admitted the “car didn’t feel ideal” during qualifying as he qualified thirteenth at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The Frenchman takes a five place grid penalty for a gearbox change to drop him to eighteenth and he said it “wasn’t a great” session at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace.
“It wasn’t a great qualifying session,” said a frustrated Ocon. “For various reasons things just didn’t come together for us.
“We made a set-up change between final practice and qualifying and it didn’t really bring the benefit we needed.
“So the car didn’t feel ideal for qualifying.”
Ocon thought the Racing Point Force India F1 Team had the potential to reach Q3, but the rain at the end of the second part of qualifying cost them a second run. The Frenchman revealed that he wouldn’t mind some rain during the race to help his charge from the back of the field.
“Ahead of the session, I believed we had the potential to make Q3 but it didn’t work out for us,” he explained.
“I’ve also got to take the grid penalty [five places] so I will be starting near the back and it’s going to make the race even more difficult.
“Perhaps some rain tomorrow would work in my favour and allow me to catch up and fight for points.”
