Perez cost me podium... but my time will come - Ocon
An upset Esteban Ocon says he cannot be satisfied at being denied the opportunity to challenge for a maiden F1 podium by his own team-mate after Sergio Perez defied team orders in their tense Canadian Grand Prix battle.
Capitalising on an early exit for Max Verstappen and troubled starts for the Ferraris, both Perez and Ocon ran inside the top five for most of the race with Force India confident enough to split their strategies in an effort to get the better of a steadfast Daniel Ricciardo ahead in third place.
However, with Perez failing to make an impression on the man in front and Ocon on fresher tyres queuing up behind in fifth following a later stop, Force India advised Perez to move aside for his team-mate to give him a chance at attacking Ricciardo.
Though he was assured the pair would swap back again if Ocon couldn't pass Ricciardo by the end of the race, Perez stalled on the team call before attempting to make his jump through lapped traffic much to Ocon's frustration.
Gallingly for Ocon, Perez's stubbornness would allow the fast closing Sebastian Vettel to close in, the German making the most of his Ferrari package to pass both within lap, firmly ending Force India's hopes of an unexpected podium tilt.
With Ocon ending up a somewhat unrepresentative sixth by the chequered flag, though the youngster believes Perez got in the way of a podium for himself and the team, he insists he won't dwell on it.
"It was a great race all in all, it was just a shame I couldn't get the chance to pass Ricciardo, I think I had the pace by far to do it so a podium was possible for me today. That is how it is, that is racing sometimes. We have to discuss what happened in the debriefing room. My time will come
Perez, meanwhile, defended his defiant actions despite admitting he couldn't make a DRS-assisted pass in 40 laps beforehand.
"I think the main reason for me is I had spent almost the whole race behind Ricciardo in his DRS window in the whole race, I was really close to him and what I needed from Daniel was a single mistake or a single lock-up. He basically drove a perfect race, he didn't make a mistake and when the team asked me to let him by we were going to lap some cars so I asked them to give me the chance.
"I was always in DRS zone, at no point I was more than a second and a half or two seconds behind him. The only point I was behind him was when I was saving brakes. In the end I had 40 laps to put the move on Ricciardo and he didn't make a single mistakes.
"Esteban had 14 or 15 laps behind me on much fresher tyres and he was never close enough to make a move. I think in the end we finished where we deserved to finish. I knew the Ferrari's were coming quite quick and I was struggling for tyre grip. I was thinking the podium could be mine, the situation wasn't ideal today but I tried my best."
Despite missing out on the podium, the result does strengthen Force India's grip on fourth in the standings having accumulated 71 points compared with fifth place Toro Rosso on 29.
