Autosportfoto

Ocon will be ‘more careful’ battling Force India F1 team-mate Perez

Esteban Ocon has admitted he will likely be more careful when battling Force India Formula 1 team-mate Sergio Perez wheel-to-wheel in future following their latest collision in Hungary.

Perez ran into the side of Ocon as they braked for Turn 1, with both drivers incurring damage but able to continue and finish eighth and ninth respectively.

It is the second time they have collided in four races, after hitting each other on the exit of Turn 2 following a safety car restart in Azerbaijan while running fourth and fifth.

When asked by Autosport if he will change the way he drives when next going wheel-to-wheel with Perez, Ocon said: "Yeah, probably I would be more careful.

"In any case, you don't want to touch with another car. It's because it's the same team, you don't take as much risk.

"That's my view on it and I hope he takes it into account as well. The team said no contact. I'm respecting that and I hope he will in the future."

Perez said the incident was not a case of driver error, but because Stoffel Vandoorne's McLaren was on his inside.

"I had Vandoorne next to me, I had to avoid him - there was no more space for three cars," he said.

"We had a little touch there, I damaged my front wing a bit, but we were able to carry on.

"We gave our comments and everything is fine. It's clear to me that I had nowhere to go."

When asked if he agreed with Perez that having a third car involved meant it was one of those things, Ocon replied: "No."

Perez said he has "no problem" with Ocon and the team will "move on" from what happened.

"The team spoke to him when he put me in the wall in Baku," said Perez.

"After this one, the team hasn't said anything because there is nothing to be said.

"We try to move on and try to do the best job as possible."

Ocon said he expected to speak to Perez about the incident but he doesn't expect it to get heated.

"I think we are OK," he said. "We're professional drivers. I'm not going to go at him and punch him in the face.

"[The rivalry] is good. We push ourselves hard on track and that makes our performance go up.

"In the end, for the team it's a good thing.

"We don't have the fastest car all the time. It's probably thanks to that [rivalry] that we are always there."

Zdroj: autosport.com