The 2025 Hungarian GP weekend took a sharp downturn on Saturday for Estaban Ocon, as the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team driver was eliminated in Q1 after struggling with stability and an unexplained loss of performance in Qualifying. The Frenchman will line up P18 on the grid — a frustrating result after promising signs in earlier sessions and a strong showing at Spa just one week ago.
A screw in the tyre
As the Q1 got underway, team radio caught a surprising message concerning Ocon’s front tyre. A foreign object had become lodged in the rubber — an unusual scenario during a timed session. While speaking to written media after the session, Ocon addressed the incident, acknowledging the risk but insisting that it did not influence his performance.
“Not really. I think it went away after Turn 1. I didn’t hear the engineers talking about it much after the run. It could have gone pretty wrong if that went in straight away. It was a bodywork screw, the quick-release one that the mechanics usually use. That was stuck on my front right tyre.”
The situation resolved itself quickly, and Ocon proceeded with the session uninterrupted. However, the lap that followed — one he initially felt good about — proved disappointing when the final times came through.
Searching for lost pace
Despite pushing hard, Ocon found himself well adrift of the midfield. Teammate Oliver Bearman made it through to Q2 with a solid lap, but Ocon exited in P18 — prompting immediate questions about the VF-25’s lack of pace.
“But yeah, after that, I was happy with the lap, which is pretty disappointing, crossing the line and looking how far we are. So we need to try and investigate from Spa where that performance drop came from because we had good performance there and it shouldn’t have been the case here.”
Eyes on the race — and the weather
Despite Saturday’s Qualifying setback, Ocon emphasised that the 2025 F1 Hungarian GP weekend is not over. With rain threatening to shake up Sunday’s race, he remains cautiously optimistic about his chances to fight his way into the points.
“You know, we’ll give it everything tomorrow. The weekend is still not finished and we don’t know what can happen with the weather. Optimistic to give it a full push tomorrow and try and do the best.”
The Hungaroring offers limited overtaking opportunities, but weather-induced chaos has historically turned this track into a strategic lottery. Ocon, who took advantage of tricky weather conditions to take his maiden F1 win at the 2021 Hungarian GP, has shown resilience in such conditions before — and he is clearly hoping for an opportunity to fight forward.
Set-up choices and missed expectations
When asked whether the challenging 2025 F1 Hungarian GP Qualifying session caught him by surprise, Ocon succinctly replied, “Yeah, clearly.”
Ocon also dismissed the idea of his VF-25 having been set-up for wet weather in anticipation of Sunday’s race. When asked whether the forecast weather had played a role in Haas’ set-up decisions ahead of Qualifying, the Frenchman replied, “We didn’t set the car up for wet.”
Rear stability the root cause
Delving into the details of his VF-25’s behaviour in Qualifying at the 2025 F1 Hungarian GP, Ocon pointed to instability — particularly in the final sector — as the main culprit behind his lack of pace. He also referenced a divergent approach in front wing setup between himself and Bearman, which may have contributed to the performance gap between the two Haas entries.
“Yeah, it’s stability, really, especially the last two corners. I think that was quite clear. But yeah, Ollie [Bearman] is running a very different setup on the front wing compared to us and things that we couldn’t put on our car. We need to investigate where that comes from exactly.”
Although he declined to go into technical specifics, Ocon made it clear that his car simply did not allow him to push through key parts of the lap — a limitation that became impossible to overcome on such a tight, twisty layout.
“I’m not going into detail but yeah, I was having issues with the stability. If I went to Ollie, I can’t take any corners basically. So that’s where the differences are and probably the performances.”
Urgency to respond
Ocon’s Q1 exit in Hungary marks another inconsistent outing in what has been a rollercoaster season for Haas. The team has taken strides in recent rounds, yet still seemingly lacks the consistency to keep both cars in the midfield fight on Saturdays. As the team shifts its attention to Sunday, Haas will look to analyse the data from both cars in order to understand the source of the imbalance. If rain arrives as expected, the race could offer a lifeline and an opportunity to recover lost ground.
