Esteban Ocon spoke in a print media session at the F1 British GP about the issues Haas are currently facing in qualifying, and why the VF-25 is so much stronger in the race.
Ocon has been struggling in qualifying. Only twice this year has he made it to Q3. His teammate Ollie Bearman has been displaying similar struggles.
Ahead of the F1 British GP, Ocon explained why their pace is lacking on Saturday. Whilst he is positive that progress is being made, he believes that Haas will struggle to catch up to make sufficient progress on it this year.
Saturday vs Sunday
Before Silverstone, Esteban Ocon worked his way through the field into the points-scoring positions. In Canada, he qualified P15 and finished the race P9. Similar to Austria, where he advanced to P10 after starting in P17.
But what is it that he can find so much more pace in his Haas car on a Sunday? One of the problems hindering his qualifying efforts is the car’s lack of straight-line speed and high speed cornering performance.
“We do seem to struggle more than the race for various different reasons, which are quite obvious to us. There’s a bit of straight-line speed, a bit of high-speed corner, difficulties that we face as well.”
The Frenchman also shared the reasons the VF-25 is better in race trim. The ability to overtake, along with having good tyre management, has played a significant role. It’s the polar opposite to 2023.
“When we get to the race, nobody really runs DRS, and there is a matter of also tyre management in the high-speed corners, so things get closer and we are quite good at managing tyres recently.
“All the tracks where we were able to come back are also the tracks where you have the chance to overtake. The tracks where it’s going to be more difficult, if we start that far back, it’s going to be quite tough.”
Issues with the balance and straight-line speed
The problems they are facing appear to come down to two separate issues. Difficulties with the balance of the car and a lack of straight-line speed.
When asked what he thinks the biggest problem is the balance issues with the car, Esteban Ocon said that his main concern is the balance of the car as there is nothing he or any driver can do when going full throttle on the straights.
“For me, it’s quite transparent. The straight-line speed problem is not something that I really focus on.
“I’m focusing more on the balance issue of the car, and it’s really good that the team has been trying to steer the development. I struggle to rotate the car at low-speed, but the car is a bit unstable in high-speed.”
The team at Haas are working to rectify the issues in the car. Whilst he is optimistic that progress will be made, Ocon does not believe that they will close the gap.
“We’ll try our best to minimise that and to improve it, but I suspect we will not be able to catch the deficit towards the end of the year now. We will minimise it but not catch it overall.
“Quite often you solve the problems by running a different strategy than others, let’s say an earlier pit stop, one pit stop less or a later pit stop.”
Looking towards upcoming tracks
Despite all of these difficulties, back-to-back points finishes have shown that there is potential in the car.
And this seems to be giving the Frenchman confidence going into the next few rounds.
Ocon also believes that Budapest and Baku may be good tracks for Haas this year. However, he did admit that Spa may be difficult.
“Am I concerned? No. I mean, Baku, there’s a lot of traction zones there, and we are really good in traction normally. Spa might be a difficult one for sure. But then, Budapest, you know, it’s a lot of low speed as well. We are pretty good also, and we get good rear grip in the low-speed.”
