Perez and Ocon admit they let Force India F1 team down

After their pair of Belgian Grand Prix collisions, Force India declared it would impose team orders and threatened them with being suspended from races.

Perez and Ocon cleared the air at Monza on Thursday with private talks at the Force India motorhome and then further discussions during a cycle ride of the track.

Following the chat, Perez was confident that matters were now sorted and denied suggestions their relationship was untenable.

"We both know that we have done wrong in the past for this team, and my main target is not thinking to run away," said Perez.

"I think working with Esteban is still possible.

"It can be a successful partnership and I am not thinking of moving elsewhere."

Ocon said: "I think we both crossed the line, that is for sure. We touched, so something was wrong in there.

"I won't argue because it is all behind us now and we want to move forward.

"We crossed the line and we cannot do that in the future for the purpose of the team and for us.

"We had a talk this morning together just us two, and it is time that we forget all that.

"We work hard for the team, that is what is important and that is what they deserve: that we behave as professionals and we want to keep challenging the others, keep pushing them and keep that fourth place to the end."

Perez said he approached Ocon on Thursday morning at Monza and they agreed they had to draw a line under recent events.

"I went to Esteban's room and I had a talk with him," he said.

"The engineers had their view [on what happened]. It was pointless going through each incident, as everyone has their point to say, so we said 'let's just move on together, let's forget the past and go forwards together'.

"I believe a new relationship can start from now on and I hope from now on we can start working as a team and put the interests of the team first.

"We both came to that agreement and it was quite simple."

Ocon hoped he and Perez could eventually convince Force India to drop its team orders stance.

"We have to get the bosses' trust back, and then maybe they will let us race again," he said.