Force India decides against team orders
ByAutoSport
Published 22/06/2017 at 10:53 GMT
Sergio Perez says Force India has decided against changing its team orders strategy despite controversy over his decision to stay ahead of Esteban Ocon during the Canadian Grand Prix.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
Mexican Perez was asked if he wanted to move over for team-mate Ocon as they battled with Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo for third place in the closing stages of the race, but the team drew short of imposing a firm order.
The pair ultimately finished fifth and sixth after being overtaken by Sebastian Vettel, with Perez remaining ahead of Ocon.
While Force India outfit suggested it may have to rethink its approach, Perez said in Baku it had decided it was happy to continue to allow both drivers race.
"We had a couple of discussions, one after the race, one during the week," said Perez when asked by Autosport what discussions had taken place since Canada.
"The policy of the team is that if we are in the same situation they will do exactly the same thing - so they will let us race again; no team orders.
"They felt there was no need to do team orders.
"Thirteen laps of difference on tyres in Montreal is not a lot, as it is a very low degradation on that circuit.
"The team has all the information, so what they say is that if we are in the same situation again on a similar circuit they will do the same, and they feel they did the right thing.
"In Canada they told me to speed up to Ricciardo; we were just having a normal conversation, and there were never team orders.
"I think it is great that the team let the drivers race."
Perez added that he and Ocon - who complained over his radio about Perez's defensive driving - had cleared up their differences privately.
"We did have a word and in the week we had a phone call and everything is quite alright between us," said Perez.
"We basically discussed that after the race, we have adrenaline so we probably say things that once everything was done, we can say we shouldn't have said.
"So we just had a friendly chat and everything is alright."
After fighting Ricciardo for a podium in Canada, Perez believes Force India has the chance of battling the Red Bulls for a top three spot again this weekend.
"Probably in terms of pace it was our best weekend," said Perez, who scored a podium in Baku last year.
"We had really strong pace the whole weekend and probably was the one [podium] we did on pace.
"Hopefully this year we can have the pace and aim for the podium. If there is one race where we can be closer, it is this one - so it is a good chance for us."
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