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Force India's chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer has revealed that the team believes its driver's Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon have matured enough to race freely again in 2018.
The pair were involved in a number of on-track altercations last year, making contact at the Azerbaijan, Hungary and Belgian Grands Prix. After feeling that racing together was too much of a risk, Force India decided to take that right away from its drivers.
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However, Szafnauer now thinks that Perez and Ocon have learned from the 2017 mistakes, and has stated they are free to race again this year: "The drivers have got a better understanding and have matured enough so that they know and we know how to behave. So next season it should be a lot better," he said to Autosport.
Force India's decision to deny them to do any racing against each other came after the Belgian Grand Prix, where they hit each other twice. Tensions were already high following a podium denying collision in Azerbaijan. Szafnauer says the decision was tough to make, but it had to be done.
"It's funny because you get criticised if you do and criticised if you don't," said Szafnauer. "Some of the media were critical as they said 'you should've got on top of it earlier'.
"We were letting them race and when we did get on top of it they were saying 'oh they can't race anymore'. Looking back did we strike the balance at the right place? Probably as we've got fourth [in the constructors' championship]."
Fergal Walsh
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
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