Esteban Ocon said Saturday’s United States Grand Prix qualifying session was “probably the hardest of my life” after falling ill before the session began.

“An awesome qualifying,” Ocon wrote on social media, “but probably the hardest of my life feeling sick all the way.”

“Great job by the team, best of the rest once again,” he added. Ocon ended the session in seventh place which will become sixth on the grid once Max Verstappen’s penalty is applied.

A retching sound was heard on Ocon’s radio at the end of Q3, after which his race engineer said “I won’t ask what that was.” Ocon made a brief appearance in the media bullpen after the session.

Force India told F1 Fanatic Ocon “had a bad headache and tummy ache” which “came on just at the start of qualifying”.

Ocon said he was “glad to have made it through the session” after suffering with “a very bad headache and problems with my stomach”.

Deputy team principal Robert Fernley praised Ocon’s “tremendous effort” in making it onto the third row of the grid despite his illness.

“After the grid penalty for Verstappen, we expect to line up in sixth and ninth places tomorrow, which gives us a great opportunity to score good points,” he added.

This isn’t the first time the team have been affected by sickness this year. Ocon’s team mate Sergio Perez was suffered a stomach infection during the Malaysian Grand Prix two races ago.

2017 United States Grand Prix