Force India owner Vijay Mallya hailed the impact of Esteban Ocon in his first season with the team, amid an impressive year for the Frenchman.
It was a quite surprising when the Silverstone-based team chose the man who beat Max Verstappen to the 2014 European Formula 3 championship to replace Nico Hulkenberg for 2017, with now Sauber driver and fellow Mercedes junior Pascal Wehrlein thought to be first in line as the pair then competed against each other at Manor.
However, the 20-year-old has fully repaid that faith with only one failure to score in the first 10 races of the season and proving more than sufficient competition for highly-rated teammate Sergio Perez.
“Esteban has come up to speed really well and a little quicker than I thought,” Mallya told Sky Sports as he attended the British Grand Prix, the only race he currently can do due to an ongoing legal fight with Indian authorities.
“I’m very impressed with him. We had a tough call to make over the winter on who our driver was going to be. There were only rookies available and I think we made the right choice.
“For a guy who had all of [nine] F1 races under his belt for Manor in 2016, he’s been right out of the blocks and into the points since Australia. I’m very impressed.”
Force India have had some internal issues in recent races with three instances of better results lost due to either a lack of use of team orders or a collision between the pair, but that doesn’t seem to have bothered Mallya when he considers Ocon’s future with the team.
“He’s only going to mature and get better,” he said. “Experience is hugely important and the more experience he gets, the better he is going to become. He has the talent.
“It’s lovely to have him signed up on a multi-year contract so I’m expecting regular point-scoring finishes from him.”
Despite the lost points, Force India is still having comfortably their best year in F1 and that is leading Mallya to maintain lofty targets for the rest of the year.
“We are up to 95 points in 10 races, we never had this kind of points tally ever in the history of the team that I can remember,” he said.
“We’re 54 ahead of Williams, our nearest competitor, so we are slowly but steadily consolidating ourselves in fourth position. Let’s see what opportunities the second half of the season throws up.
“I’m not giving up on chasing Red Bull, it’s always very good to set your targets high because that allows you to really challenge yourself.
“Whether we get that or not, finishing fourth for the second consecutive is a very creditable achievement.”
