Haas left the 2026 F1 Italian GP without points after Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon finished P15 and P16 at Monza. Both drivers made strong starts and gained positions early on, but tyre management, a lack of race pace and the timing of the late Virtual Safety Car ultimately prevented them from making further progress.
The race changed dramatically in its early stages when Charles Leclerc’s heavy crash at the Parabolica brought out the red flag. Most of the field changed tyres during the stoppage, which altered the strategic picture for the remainder of the race.
Both Haas drivers made progress from the starts, but neither could convert that early momentum into a points finish at the 2026 F1 Italian GP. A late Virtual Safety Car created another strategic opportunity, although it worked out differently for the two sides of the garage. Ocon managed to stop under the VSC, while Bearman narrowly missed the opportunity and later lost positions to Hülkenberg and Sainz who had taken advantage of it. Liam Lawson also came through at the end.
Ocon praises strong starts despite lack of race pace
Starting 14th on the grid on the soft tyres, Ocon made immediate progress and climbed to 10th before the race was red-flagged following Charles Leclerc’s crash at Parabolica. He switched to the hard tyres alongside teammate Ollie Bearman for the restart.
Ocon was unable to replicate his strong initial getaway at the restart and made contact with Yuki Tsunoda as the field battled for positions in thr first chicane . The incident disrupted his momentum, with the Frenchman subsequently slipping back before settling into 13th as the race began to stabilise.
Ocon felt Haas once again showed one of its strengths in the early stages of the race. However, after the red flag and second standing start, he could not maintain the same momentum.
He also acknowledged that Haas needed to review how it handled the second start at the 2026 F1 Italian GP with both cars before pointing towards a lack of outright pace as the main limitation later in the race.
“No, no, I think we did a really good job on that first start. With the soft tyre, this is something we are very strong on since the beginning of the year, we gained a lot of places on first laps. The second start we need to review as a team. There are a few things that we could have handled better with Ollie [Bearman], but after that, unfortunately, we were not quick enough, we took the VSC, but the delta in terms of tyres was not really enough to catch back up for us.”
Haas continues work to understand Ocon’s car issues
Haas pitted Ocon on lap 28 during the Virtual Safety Car caused by Lance Stroll’s stopped Aston Martin, switching him to the medium tyres. However, the tyre advantage was not enough for him to recover positions, and he ultimately crossed the line in 16th.
Despite the disappointing result, Ocon felt Haas had made productive use of the weekend as it continued investigating the problems affecting his car. The team tested the available parts on track in an effort to better understand the issue and establish what needed to change ahead of the next race.
“I think we did a really good job as a team the whole weekend trying to mitigate the issues that we had on the downforce side of things. Obviously we didn’t fix them, but all the parts that were in the garage have been tested on track and this gives us an idea on what we have to do next week to try and fix the issues on my car, so we will see.”
Ocon had “nothing to lose” with VSC stop
The late Virtual Safety Car handed Ocon the opportunity to make a pit stop with a reduced time loss. Although the fresher tyres did not give him enough of an advantage to recover significant ground before the chequered flag at the 2026 F1 Italian GP, Ocon believed Haas made the correct decision given his position at the time.
Asked whether an issue with the hard tyre had influenced the decision to stop, he explained that there was simply little reason not to take the opportunity.
“No, I think it’s just where we were, I think there was nothing to lose, so we should have just taken it. It’s probably the first VSC that I’m on time to take, you know, to box. We’ve always missed them this year, so at least we managed to do that. We had a little issue at the pit stop, but overall they are getting better as well.”
Ocon still searching for confidence in his Haas
While Ocon and Haas gathered more information throughout the Monza weekend, the Frenchman admitted he had not yet found the level of confidence he wanted from the car. He pointed to Bearman’s side of the garage as the benchmark Haas needed to reach with his own car, with the French driver also not having the updated Ferrari PU.
“Not quite yet, unfortunately, we need to get a little bit more. We need to get to where Ollie’s car was this weekend.”
Ocon remained cautious when asked whether Haas could extract more from its upgrades at the next race.
“I don’t know, I don’t know too much, you need to ask Hoagy [Nidd].“
Bearman encouraged by strong starts at Monza
Bearman also made progress when the lights went out and came away satisfied with both of his starts. The Briton gained positions early and remained competitive after the restart, although the battle with Yuki Tsunoda forced him to push harder than he would have liked on the tyres. Ultimately the Racing Bulls was far quicker.
“Yeah, I had a great start both times round and managed to make up positions on both starts, so I was really happy. Actually, on the second one I held position just because Antonelli came by, but I’d already considered him in front of me, even on the original starting grid. Yeah, it was not a good start, then Yuki [Tsunoda] came past and I could tell that to match his pace I had to push a bit harder on the tyres.”
Missed VSC costs Bearman late in the race
Bearman spent much of the race pushing his tyres close to their limit as he attempted to stay with the cars around him. Although the tyres initially held on, he knew that maintaining the pace would eventually come at a cost.
“For a few laps it looked okay, but I knew that it was only a matter of time, because, like I said, I literally spent my whole race on the absolute limit, risking everything, and eventually the tyres started to drop off. They actually came back a bit, but then unfortunately we didn’t quite catch the VSC. I literally was at the pit entry as it came out, so I didn’t manage to get it.”
The timing of the VSC proved particularly costly for Bearman. He had already reached the pit entry when it was deployed, meaning he could not take advantage of the reduced pit-loss time. Several rivals managed to stop during the neutralisation and later moved ahead of him, contributing to his eventual P15 finish.
“I would have taken that for sure, but unfortunately we just got a bit unlucky, so I had to stay out. And then I ended up getting overtaken, of course, by three guys who managed to catch that VSC. I don’t think it’s as bad as it looks, in terms of results, we were a bit unfortunate in that regard. It’s been a positive weekend in terms of qualifying and lots to take away from it. Actually I’m much happier coming out of a weekend like this than I was two weeks ago, three weeks ago, etc. It’s not all been bad and we have a lot to take away from this one.”
Bearman hopeful Haas upgrades will show more in Madrid
Haas’ decision to run for such a long period on the same set of tyres had initially concerned Bearman. While the team’s data suggested the strategy would work, he admitted he had been against the idea when Haas discussed it during the red-flag stoppage. The stint ultimately proved manageable, although Bearman struggled with his front-left tyre as the race developed.
“Yeah, to be honest, when we spoke about that in the pit lane in the red flag, I was really against it. But all of our data suggested it would be okay, it was okay. I think with the balance we had a bit too much on the stair, I ended up suffering on my front left tyre.”
Despite leaving Monza without points, Bearman remained optimistic about what Haas could achieve with its upgrade package at the upcoming races. He believes Monza’s unique characteristics made it difficult for the team to fully demonstrate the potential of the new parts and expects the package to offer more at Madrid and potentially Baku.
“I think so, it’s going to be worth a lot more in a track like Madrid and hopefully Baku as well. This track is not the best to showcase how an upgrade works, so I’m very hopeful for the next races.”
