Esteban Ocon was left frustrated after being involved in a number of incidents during the Malaysian Grand Prix, even as the Frenchman managed to score his 14th points finish in 15 races with P10 at Sepang.
The Mercedes junior had a reasonable start from his best dry-weather grid position of sixth but would be the meat in a sandwich between teammate Sergio Perez and Felipe Massa through the switchback hairpins of Turn’s 1 and 2.
That would result in a slow puncture which dropped the Force India driver down the order as he pitted early but he would make his way back through before a second collision at Turn 1, this time after making contact with Carlos Sainz as he looked to sweep around the outside.
The Spaniard would later retire with engine trouble while Ocon continued and would then fight with Felipe Massa but after the promise of a strong result after his performance in qualifying, one championship point was not what the 21-year-old was hoping for.
“It was a disastrous race, let’s say,” he claimed. “That [puncture] ruins my race, I managed to keep on that tyre until the end but when I tried to overtake Sainz he crashed into me.
“Not much I could do there. But it started with the first thing at the start. We have to review that and I’m not happy.”
No action was taken by the stewards on the second incident with Sainz, and the Toro Rosso driver believes the former European F3 champion should have left greater room once in front.
“We obviously were fighting for position and we both braked extremely late into Turn 1 and then he started closing, closing, closing on me and I didn’t have any more steering and we just collided a bit,” said Sainz.
“I think he was already ahead of me so if you are already ahead of me, don’t risk closing on me, especially when we both braked so late.
“He was already pretty much ahead so I just started to turn, I ran out of steering lock and we collided.”
While one Force India had an action-filled race, the other was merely surviving to the end as Perez overcame illness at the toughest race of the year for the drivers to claim sixth and finish as the top midfield car.
“It was probably the hardest race of my career, on a weekend in which I feared I would need to give up,” the Mexican explained. “It is an amazing result just to make it to the finish: I just kept going out of willingness to do it and I have to thank the doctors for helping me out.”
What likely helped the man who finished second at Sepang in 2012 was a pretty straightforward race without much competition.
“Having a good start was the key to my race and so was passing Vandoorne during the first few laps,” he said. “After that, I was able to manage my race and it was all pretty uneventful. We were able to extend the first stint and manage our tyres well.
“I was only under pressure from Vettel, but that was not really my fight. We scored some more important points for the team and I am happy to come home with a good result after such a difficult weekend. I hope to be back to full fitness in Japan.”
