Esteban Ocon believes Force India could be in contention for "big points" in Sunday's Ma꧙laysian Grand Prix after leading the tight midfield battle🦂 in qualifying, taking P6 on the grid.

With Sebastian Vettel suffering an engine issue that caused him to drop out in Q1, a chance was offered to the m💜idfielders to break into the top six traditionally locked out by Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.

Ocon was able to lead the midfield by taking P6, narrowly edging out McLaren's Stoffel Va🍌ndoorne, with just three-tenths of a second separating the bottom half of the top 10.

“I’m very happy with our performance today. The car has been working really well since the start of practice and it’s clear that all the hard work we🧜 have done since Singapore has paid off," Ocon said.

"I think we found further performance today and all the small 🍌chan🐼ges we made to the car really helped make the difference. So it’s a great team effort and we are in good shape for tomorrow. My laps today were strong – probably some of my best of the season, but there is still room to improve.

"You never know what can happen in the r🐷ace, but it’s a good chance to score some big points."