Force India is considering an easing of the team orders imposed since the Italian Grand Prix following their 14th double points finish of the season at the United States GP.
Collisions between their drivers, Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez, in Baku and Belgium, had left the Silverstone outfit no choice but to intervene as they looked to guarantee fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
Though their standing was never under threat even before the introduction of the orders, such has been their dominance in the midfield in 2017, now with a 91-point lead over Williams, COO Otmar Szafnauer admits they could be relaxed.
“Probably one more race,” he told Autosport about how long they would remain. “We have just got to get through one more race and hopefully by then, we’ll have clinched fourth place. That’s what it is all about.
“Once we get through that then maybe we can relax and do things a bit differently in the last two.”
For Perez, that could be a blessed relief after having to sit behind his teammate both in Japan and Austin, with the inability to attack in the latter costing him a place to Carlos Sainz and dropping the Mexican to eighth.
“I thought I had much better pace because I was saving tyres but then the traffic damaged my tyres and I stepped back,” the 27-year-old explained. “Esteban was also taking care of his tyres to get to the end.
“I was in a very difficult position with Sainz and with Kvyat the entire race. I could have had a little more pace and looked after the tyres (if I had been ahead) but I don’t know if it would have been enough to keep Sainz behind and it would have put Ocon in a complicated position.”
As for the Frenchman, he would set a new record of 26 consecutive finishes for a driver at the start of his F1, beating the 25 Max Chilton had managed with Marussia before eventually retiring in Canada in 2014.
Ocon, who was suffering from migraines on Saturday, would reveal he did have a brief car scare before the race but all would be well as he finished ‘best of the rest’ in sixth.
“Sixth place feels very satisfying because it was not an easy race with so much pressure from Sainz in the final stages,” said the 21-year-old.
“Before the race, there was an issue on the grid with a control unit in my car, but the team did a really good job to make the repairs in time for the start. Then I spent a big part of the race just managing my pace and looking after the tyres to make the one-stop strategy work.
“The team told me when to push and when to manage the pace, and to finish sixth shows we judged this almost perfectly.”
Depending on the result this weekend in Mexico, where Perez will be the local favourite, the two drivers who have become of the most evenly matched pairings on the grid, could have a two-race duel to decide who finishes in the coveted seventh in the Drivers’ Championship, a position Sergio currently holds by 13 points.
