08/07/2018
NEWS STORY
Sahara Force India scored seven points in today's British Grand Prix as Esteban Ocon raced to seventh place at Silverstone, while Sergio Perez ended up in P10.
Vijay Mallya: "To score seven points in our home race feels good. Esteban didn't put a wheel out of place today and showed excellent racecraft to hold off the cars behind which had a tyre advantage. Sergio dropped to last on lap one after spinning at the first corner, which proved costly. It's the fifth time this year that one of our cars has suffered a first lap incident and it's hurting us in the constructors' championship. Despite the spin, Checo battled back, pushed hard, and overtook a lot of cars. To score the final point was a remarkable recovery drive."
Esteban Ocon: "I'm really happy with the result today. Seventh place feels good after such a difficult race. The safety car didn't make things easy because the tyres were cold at the restarts and it was not easy to keep Fernando [Alonso] and Kevin [Magnussen] behind me in the last few laps. I feel very tired mentally because it was a really big fight until the end. It's important that we scored more points to add to the good points we picked up in Austria last week. The car is getting better and we are racing well so I have to say ‘thank you' to the team for all their hard work. We keep pushing and the results are coming."
Sergio Perez: "I cannot be totally happy about today's race. The incident at the start compromised my race: I lost the rear end trying to avoid the incidents ahead, spun and suddenly I was at the back of the field. After that, our race was pretty strong. We had good pace and overtook a lot of cars. We made the most of the various safety cars and made it back into the points. With two laps to go, Gasly pushed me off track. I gave him enough space but that was not enough: we still made contact and I lost the place. I believe it was an unfair move. I'm pleased that the FIA took action after the race to penalise Gasly, which gave me back the final point. My focus now is to rest after the triple header. We will analyse these races and come back strong for Germany."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Silverstone, here.