Ocon: Q3 was "just out of reach"

Force India's Esteban Ocon thinks that his team were lacking just that little extra bit of pace to get into Q3, as the young Frenchman eventually finished in P11 for the Austrian Grand Prix.

Ocon out-qualified his teammate Sergio Perez quite significantly on Saturday, as the Mexican couldn't even make it out of Q1 in Spielberg. He ended in P17, six places below the Frenchman. It's becoming quite apparent that, at least in qualifying, Ocon is the quicker of the two.

Still, as a team, this wasn't good enough. Both Haas and Renault qualified in front of them, something that didn't happen much in years much.

“A place in Q3 was just out of reach today," Ocon told The Checkered Flag.

Ocon then revealed that Force India indeed have some upgrades in the pipeline which should help them in their battle in midfield with Haas and mainly Renault. The latter is the team to beat in midfield, as both Haas and Force India aren't consistent enough to cause Renault any real problems.

“I think the developments we have coming for the future races will give us the boost we need," Ocon continued.

He'll need to go through a Renault to get into the points, though. Whether the Frenchman can pull this off, or whether someone will crash into someone else again like in France, remains to be seen.