The Haas F1 Team has been on an impressive run of form this season and have been clear pace-setters at times in the midfield since the summer break. The American outfit scored points in all but two races in that period. While Ollie Bearman has taken most of the spotlight with his sizable points haul, Esteban Ocon has also delivered strong performances, often held back only by bad luck and difficult qualifying sessions. At the F1 Las Vegas GP, the Frenchman finally made his way into the points again and reflected on his race afterwards.
Ocon produced a solid drive under the lights, executing his strategy well and fighting hard throughout the 50 laps. He ultimately finished just 1.2 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari in the battle for the final point on the road. However, he was later promoted to ninth following the disqualification of both McLaren drivers.
Starting from 13th on the grid after a disappointing qualifying session, Ocon made a promising start on medium tyres, climbing to 12th before capitalising on Liam Lawson’s lap 1 crash with Piastri to establish himself in 11th. Speaking about the race during the print media sessions, Ocon said:
“I was on the wrong side, couldn’t really catch back into the inside and basically everybody crashed in the middle there,” Ocon explained. “And it was quite good, you know, for us to be able to avoid that.”
Esteban Ocon shares Haas’ weakness after F1 Las Vegas GP
Ocon was keeping Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari at bay during the opening phases of the race. Following his pit stop after lap 27, where he switched to hard tyres, Ocon found his rhythm. He successfully hunted down Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin and overtook teammate Oliver Bearman to climb into contention for points. Yet despite his best efforts in the closing stages, he could not pass Hamilton for tenth place on the road.
“We were fighting with Lewis, you know, really until the end. Maybe five more laps I would have been able to fight with him potentially, but yeah, effectively we had a little bit of pace missing, especially on braking this weekend,” Ocon revealed.
The Haas driver was honest about his car’s limitations throughout the weekend, pinpointing braking performance as the Achilles’ heel that prevented a stronger result.
“That’s our weakness, you know, for quite a few events now. Something we need to be working on and improve. As soon as I wanted to push a bit harder, you know, to get a bit closer to Lewis, I locked up, lost a couple of tenths.”
He added, “You know, that was what prevented us from getting inside the second, you know, to get DRS. So, yeah, it’s a shame because it feels like we’ve done the maximum in the race, but it’s not really rewarding. So, it’s a bit disappointing on that side, but I think that race was quite positive for us.”
Ocon hoped for more tyre graining at the F1 Las Vegas GP
Interestingly, Ocon admitted he’d hoped for more dramatic tyre degradation that might have shuffled the pack and created opportunities as was the case in 2023 when he finished P4 for Alpine. However, the resurfaced Las Vegas circuit offered consistent grip throughout.
“I wanted a ’23 [result] again and we started with management and, yeah, by lap two I was already pushing flat out and nothing happened,” Ocon said, referencing last year’s chaotic race. “Not new enough, the tarmac, unfortunately.
“The tyres, they just stayed too consistent. I mean, we can’t complain. As drivers, this is what we have been asking Pirelli for years. It’s happening. But, yeah, I was expecting a bit of disaster on the front grain for everyone and hopefully benefited from it, but nothing happened.”
Following their double points finish at their third home race, the Haas F1 Team have climbed to seventh in the standings. The American outfit now sit just one point clear of Aston Martin, setting up a tight three-way battle with Racing Bulls too for seventh that looks to go down to the wire.
