Esteban Ocon qualifies P7 ahead of Sergio `Checo’ Perez on P10
Sahara Force India showed well at the Circuit of the Americas on Saturday as Esteban Ocon qualified in seventh place ahead of Sergio Perez in tenth for Sunday’s United States F1 Grand Prix.
P7 – ESTEBAN OCON – VJM10-04
| Q1 | 1:35.849 | ||
| Q2 | 1:35.113 | ||
| Q3 | 1:34.647 |
Esteban: “I’m happy with the result today. The team has done a fantastic job once again and we have been strong in every session. We have a great chance to pick up a big bunch of points tomorrow. It was not an easy qualifying session for me because I did not feel well. I had a very bad headache and problems with my stomach. So I am glad to have made it through the session with a strong result. I now need to get some rest and try to recover to be ready for the race tomorrow.”
P10 – SERGIO PEREZ – VJM10-02
| Q1 | 1:36.358 | ||
| Q2 | 1:34.789 | ||
| Q3 | 1:35.148 |
Sergio: “It’s quite disappointing to end up tenth because I know I had the pace to be at least seventh or eighth. My qualifying was compromised in Q1 when Kevin [Magnussen] blocked me. It cost me an extra set of tyres in Q1 and it meant I went into Q3 with just a single set of fresh tyres. I had to do my final lap on used tyres and had to settle for tenth place. I can’t wait for the race tomorrow. I hope we can get a good start and make up for some of the ground we lost today.”
ROBERT FERNLEY, DEPUTY TEAM PRINCIPAL
“Another strong performance with both cars making it through to Q3 this afternoon. After the grid penalty for Verstappen, we expect to line up in sixth and ninth places tomorrow, which gives us a great opportunity to score good points. We had to work hard yesterday and this morning to dial the car into this circuit – much more so than in Malaysia and Japan – but the team did a fantastic job overnight and took the right decisions ahead of qualifying. Sergio was a bit unlucky during the session and didn’t maximise the car’s potential, but the race pace is very encouraging for tomorrow. Esteban was a little under the weather during the session so to qualify in seventh place is a tremendous effort.”
eom/Sahara Force India press release
