Sergio Perez has called an end to the conflict between him and Esteban Ocon as he claimed that the Formula 1 team cannot ‘afford’ any more collisions for the rest of the season.
The pair clashed twice during the Belgian Grand Prix in August, with their latter collision leading to the retirement of Perez from the race. He sheared his right-rear tyre on Ocon’s front wing on lap 30.
Ocon then took to social media in anger, claiming that Perez had tried to ‘kill’ him on the run-up to Eau Rouge.
Force India has now implemented a new team orders policy with its two drivers forbidden from racing each other. Perez and Ocon talked at Monza on Thursday in private before the Italian GP to resolve the issue, and the two sat with Sebastian Vettel between them for Thursday’s press conference.
“I think I had a really good conversation with [Esteban] – personally between him and me – and it’s time to move forward,” said Perez (pictured below with race engineer Tim Wright at Monza).
“I think everyone has his opinion on what happened: the engineers, the fans, us. We have different opinions on what has been happening but most important is that from now on we move forwards.
“The main objective is to finish fourth and we cannot afford to lose any more points. I think we’ve lost quite a few points in those races.”
Force India sits a firm fourth in the constructors’ standings, 96 points behind Red Bull but 58 points ahead of fifth place rivals Williams.
Renault has however outscored Force India since the British GP through Nico Hulkenberg’s performances and boss Cyril Abiteboul has since claimed that Renault has the ‘fourth best car’ in F1.
Ocon agreed with his team-mate’s comments, saying: “We have to move forwards and as Sergio was saying, we had a talk this morning together, just us two.
“It’s time we forget all that, that we work hard for the team.
“That’s what’s important, that’s what they deserve: that we behave as professionals and we want to keep challenging the others, keep pushing up and we have to keep that fourth place ’til the end.”
Sparks flew between the two in Canada as Perez led Ocon late into the grand prix with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in their sights. Perez wouldn’t let his team-mate past and pleaded to the team to let him race. Force India claimed that its rules of engagement would change after that race as the outfit missed out on a possible podium.
The rivalry heated up in Azerbaijan as the two crashed following a late Safety Car restart running fourth and fifth. Both blamed each other for the incident and Force India boss Otmar Sznafauer again claimed that discussions would be had to avoid further escalation.
Team instructions may well have been forced upon the two drivers but the pair seems happy to comply.
“If there is a team instruction I will follow it. I think we both crossed a line, that’s for sure,” said Ocon.
“What we cannot afford is to lose more points,” reiterated Perez.
“Things change really quickly in F1 and we see other teams are closing up in terms of pace. We definitely need to score especially in strong races such as Spa and Monza – probably the two strongest races for us.
“So we need to make sure we score as many points in races as we can and that’s for the good of the team.”
“I agree with Sergio,” added Ocon.
“And I think also we need to get the boss’s trust back, and maybe after some races they will let us race again.”
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Source :https://www.jamesallenonf1.com
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