Best F1 qualification for Esteban Ocon in Baku
Esteban Ocon continues to improve, finishing 7th in qualifying. But he still hasn't managed to get ahead of his team-mate Sergio Perez, in 6th place.
In Canada, Force India had made headlines with their fierce battle for most of the race. Baku could be the scene of another fratricidal struggle since the two teammates will once again be very close on the grid.
The Frenchman was able to savor his seventh-place finish, his best career result. His previous record was not old as it was just two weeks ago when he achieved 9th place: « It’s the best qualifying position of my career and I am very happy with how the session went. » But the competitor is never far behind and he points out that he could have done even better: « I made a small mistake on my fast lap, which probably cost me a position, but as a team, we keep improving. Today, we really had to give it our all. I brushed the wall three times, which didn’t happen yesterday. I wanted to give it my all today. »
The Mercedes protégé might regret this lost place occupied by his teammate, Sergio Perez. He still has not been able to beat his main rival. The latter was thrilled with his performance, especially since he could only make one attempt in Q3: “I’m quite happy with my sixth place. The red flag in Q3 didn’t help because I hadn’t done a competitive lap yet. So I only had one chance to do it at the very end. Normally, we do an out lap, a preparation lap, and then we attack. But there was no time for that. So it wasn’t a Q3, but I’m still happy with our performance.”
The team is therefore in an ideal position to try to score points for the seventh time in eight races.
