Esteban Ocon had an exciting first half of the 2026 F1 Singapore GP, with the battle with team mate Ollie Bearman being one of the race’s highlights. Unfortunately for him, he eventually only managed P13, one place down from his 12th place starting position. Given that both George Russell and Isack Hadjar came through from the back, it wasn’t a bad result, but the Haas driver did struggled a bit too much for his own liking.
The fight with Bearman was an uncharacteristic one for the Marina Bay track, as it lasted for multiple corners before the young Briton finally had the upper hand.
“I mean, entertaining? Yes, it shouldn’t have been,” he said. “But yeah, we do amazing start, amazing first laps.
“It shows, I think, on the lead ranking of the overtakes of the year. I think I’m well clear of everyone, and that’s mainly thanks to the first lap, but unfortunately I’m just struggling since the beginning of the weekend.”
Ocon looking forward to use updates
For the other side of the garage Haas had brought some updates to Singapore, and judging by how easily Bearman managed to pull away from the Frenchman after a difficult start, the updates worked.
“We don’t have the grip that there is on Ollie’s car, which is positive. It seems that the update is working on his side, which is very good. But yeah, he was like second faster in these first couple of laps, and I couldn’t do anything.
“Even if I was two or three cars ahead, he was just flying past. When I wanted to push on the last medium stint, we just couldn’t. We were overheating the tyres, and I think on his side that has not been the case.”
All-in-all the one-time GP winner looks back with a positive feeling on the triple-header, despite being let go by the team. And with the updates coming to his side of the garage as well, Ocon is positive for the races ahead.
“So yeah, there’s a lot of positives to take, a long triple for everyone. I think a good rest is needed, a lot of things to review, but we did come out of this triple with some points, so that’s positive as a team.
“Now I’m looking forward to test these updates, see if we can keep some consistency as well in the car, which I think we also lost a little bit this weekend.
“But yeah, looking forward to see what Austin can bring.”
VF-26 potential maximised both with and without updates
With the updates coming to Ocon’s car as well, the Frenchman feels Haas is performing to their potential at the moment. Add in some reliability, and it looks good for the remainder of the season.
“I think overall we seem to be maximising the package on both sides,” he explains. “We haven’t had big problems like we had earlier in the year, that has seemed to be a little bit more calm.
“It needs to keep going, I don’t think it’s bulletproof yet on that side, but we’ve done a solid job on this side, good pitstop as well.
“It needs to keep going.”
In terms of set-up, both sides of the garage are working together very well, as Ocon explains that the difference in performance is mainly due to the difference in parts.
“They are not very different, the cars, in terms of set-up,” he says. “It’s just the parts are different.
“Ollie had an upgrade this weekend, there was only one side that could run it, and that has been chosen to go on his car.
“It’s not a set-up item, we always try and learn from both sides of the garage to take the best set-up possible.
“In terms of set-up, the cars are very close, but it’s the parts that we are missing, and that’s the part that gives more performance.”
