Ocon 'pretty happy' with return to top ten

Esteban Ocon admits he is pretty happy with his return to the top ten following Silverstone qualifying.

Ocon is confident of achieving some points in the British Grand Prix later today.

The French driver says that he believes the race pace of his car, VJM11, is stronger than it usually is following the qualifying.

The Force India driver's qualifying finish means that the team will have one car in the top ten at the start.

With the Force India factory just down the road from the Silverstone track, it is important the team do well in their home race.

Ocon expressed his happiness with the finish following missing out in both the French and Austrian Grand Prix.

He does admit that scoring points will be far from easy despite his confidence, especially with how close the 'midfield' teams were in practice and qualifying for today's race.

"I am pretty happy to be back in the top ten after missing out on Q3 in the last two races," Ocon told TheCheckeredFlag.com.

"We have made a step forward and we can be satisfied with our performance gains, but we need to keep pushing.

"We start tomorrow's race in the points already and I feel confident because we usually have better race pace compared to our single lap speed.

"The middle of the field is so close at the moment so it's going to be a big battle tomorrow, especially with a Renault (Nico Hulkenberg) behind me and my team mate, Sergio (Perez), who will both be pushing hard."