Having completing the first practice day of the 2026 F1 calendar on Friday at the Australian GP, Esteban Ocon is surprised that there is still a long way to go in learning his new Haas VF-26 challenger.
Too much new information is normal at the 2026 F1 Australian GP for Haas driver Esteban Ocon
Esteban Ocon spent nine full days covering the third-longest kilometres by any F1 driver at the pre-season testing in Bahrain. However, even this was simply not enough to understand and fully adapt to the new F1 cars. With the introduction of the novel 2026 regulations, free practices continue to be of vital importance for the drivers, perhaps even more so now.
Ocon had a smooth day, placing 10th and 11th at the end of the Australian GP free practice sessions. However, there is still a lot to take from his first Friday of the 2026 season.
According to the Haas driver, they need to focus on the energy management system, which is the major challenge of the 2026 regulations that every F1 team is currently dealing with. Whoever finds a way to cope with the battery problem first will hit the jackpot and get a competitive edge.
“A lot going on. There’s a lot of details and complications. To be honest, my head’s going to explode right now with how much information there is. It’s a lot to take but that’s what we have to do as drivers.
“It’s been interesting to go on a different track, see how the car feels. In terms of balance, it’s been pretty much here and there. There are little details that we need to improve again. In terms of energy delivery, that’s why we need to optimise a lot more. There’s a lot to gain on that side.
“It’s not quite easy to drive around that at the moment. That’s all going to be up to grab if we manage to maximise with the engineers and with the driving as well. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.”
A better balance in 2026 for Haas F1
Despite having a long way to go, Ocon is happy with VF-26 not having any fundamental problems. Comparing its balance with last year’s car, Ocon mentioned that they are in a much more advanced place. Taking that as a positive, he targets overcoming the energy management and getting ahead of his competitors.
“Luckily, our car feels okay in terms of balance. There are little details to fix but it’s not miles off. If it was last year’s car, it would have been very different and much more difficult. We have a bit more room to play for with focussing mainly on one thing, which is quite good. But we still can’t forget the rest.
“The details are still feeling comfortable with the car, getting the maximum amount of grip with the tyres. We need to focus on the basics, really.“
Nevertheless, Ocon is realistic with his enthusiasm. The Haas driver looks forward to the rest of the 2026 Australian GP to make a better judgment of VF-26’s performance.
“It’s only Friday, though. It’s only Friday of the first day. The conditions are great around here. It’s a blue sky. Yes, there’s a bit of wind, but we don’t feel that too much. Let’s wait and see. Let’s do a few more tracks in the year, and let’s go into tomorrow first. Let’s see how that goes.”
Preparing for the remainder of the Australian GP weekend
Agreeing with his teammate, Ollie Bearman also took positives from Friday. Nevertheless, the British Haas driver acknowledges the parts they need to improve for the remainder of the 2026 F1 Australian GP event.
“It was a positive day in the sense that we learned a lot and found out a lot of things on a track which is very different from what we were used to in Bahrain. There are a lot more things to focus on, and I think we made progress, which is the goal.
“Now, it’s important tonight to consolidate everything and make sure we make a step for tomorrow – that’s the target.”
Priorities need to be set
Haas spent the majority of the track time maximising the car’s energy harvesting and deployment instead of focusing on the VF-26’s actual performance. The team principal, Ayao Komatsu, mentioned the hard work taking place at the Haas garage, solving problems within 15 minutes that would traditionally take a day to fully analyse and act upon.
According to Komatsu, their 2026 F1 car’s baseline behavior is promising. Having used the two sessions on energy management, his new target is unlocking the car’s full potential for the first qualifying of the season.
“Well, first Friday with the brand-new regulations – I think operationally it was as tough as we expected it. We knew after pre-season testing that things that would previously take a day to solve, we now needed to solve within 15 minutes.
“So, in FP1 and FP2, operationally we were far from where we need to be, so we just really need to simplify everything, focus and prioritise – and get the high priority items correct. As we spend so much time on energy management, we actually haven’t worked that much, let’s say, on car performance – but the good thing is, car performance is decent, and both drivers were reasonably happy with the car.
“We have to really focus on the energy management, but we definitely made progress from FP1 to FP2, and our high-fuel run was okay too. We’ll focus on qualifying performance in FP3 tomorrow, that’s what it’s for, and that’s after we look at all the things we can learn tonight and give ourselves the best preparation for Saturday.”
