Esteban Ocon has had a remarkable weekend at the F1 Monaco GP. Despite the underwhelming practice sessions, the driver secured a strong P8 in qualifying as he got everything out of the VF-25, and drove an amazing race where he finished P7. His teammate, Ollie Bearman, also drove a notable race managing to climb from P20 to P12, which makes it an overall great day for the team.
A strategically stressful race
The Haas team worked out an amazing strategy and did a beautiful job during the two pitstops, which helped Ocon claim P7, and bring home six points for the team. Ocon made his final pit stop on lap 29 out of 78, which means he managed an amazing 49 laps on the hard tyres. The team decided to do an early two-stop for Ocon’s race, and it worked out in their favour as Liam Lawson had backed up the Williams drivers behind him to help teammate Isack Hadjar.
When asked about his previous statements of wanting “a boring race”, it appeared to be quite the opposite from the cockpit, as Ocon expressed: “It was stressful all the way to be fair. Yeah there was a lot of tactics at many points in the race, and people trying to go slower and then push, you know, just before the stops. It was not easy, but we managed to put everything together when it mattered in quali and in the race.”
When asked about his experience with the two mandatory pit stops, the driver again expressed the distress it caused.
“Stressful. It was stressful, there was a lot going on, a lot of team tactics. I think we’ve done the maximum we could and we’ve done it well,” he stated.
Haas put everything together when it mattered
After the race, Ocon spoke in the media pen about his performance, where he expressed his satisfaction with the weekend.
“Yes, really pleased, I think it’s been a really great weekend all around! We really didn’t put a foot wrong. You know, from qualifying to the race, we put everything together when it mattered. So really happy for that! It’s six points for the team, which is a big thing, so yeah very satisfied with this,” Ocon beamed after the race, emphasizing the great job the team had done.
Preparation for the next race
Haas F1 Team have had ups and downs this season, which makes their development and progress all the more interesting. When asked about the progress they made this weekend, Ocon appeared immensely positive about the work they’ve put in.
“We did make a lot of progress all the way until qualifying and this is super positive, and we need to take that into account, and really look into how we can get more consistency, you know, out of the other weekends. Barcelona will be a very different circuit, you know, a lot more downforce bias and more engine bias, so we’ll see what we can get.”
The Frenchman is still experiencing his first year at the Haas F1 Team, as he was previously signed with Alpine. When asked about finding confidence and feeling comfortable at a new team, Ocon seemed to already feel at home with the team, while being aware of what they need to work on together.
“I think we still have a good amount of things to do better, once we will have done them, I think things are gonna roll nicely. But yes, so far I think it’s been pretty solid, a good start. The team has covered a lot of ground with me and yeah, we need to keep going in that direction.”
Ocon further expressed that the team will continue to analyze their performance, and what made a difference this weekend in hopes of having another successful race in Barcelona.
