Esteban Ocon believes Force I꧙ndia could be in contention for "big points" in Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix aft🔯er leading the tight midfield battle in qualifying, taking P6 on the grid.

With Sebastian Vettel suffering an engine issue that cau🐼sed him to drop out in Q1, a chance was offered t🌟o the midfielders 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, nar🐼rowly edging out McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne, 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 al🅰l the hard work we have done since Singapore has paid off," Ocon said.

"I think we found further perfor♐mance today and all the small changes 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 race, but it’s a good chance♔ to score some big point💎s."