For the first time since Monaco, Esteban Ocon scored points with a fine drive to finish P8 in the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP.
After qualifying in 14th, before Carlos Sainz was handed a grid penalty to move up a spot, the Frenchman was fuming at the bad luck because of yellow flags at the end of Q2.
Off the line, he maintained P13. Once Kimi Antonelli came by, he stayed in P14 until Alex Albon crashed out on lap 30. On that restart, he overtook Lawson immediately, the gap was 0.006s at the line, so he timed it perfectly.
As Colapinto bowled Norris, Gasly and himself out of the race just ahead, the 2021 Hungarian GP winner then got a run on Ollie Bearman who was checked up a bit by it, diving down the inside into turn 2. He went from P13 to P8 in two corners.
A huge lock-up for Oscar Piastri on lap 40 as he defended against Isack Hadjar into turn 1 moved Ocon up to 7th with 11 laps remaining in the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP.
On the final lap, Valtteri Bottas crashed in turn 15 as the unacceptable algorithm problems of F1 2026 returned again. Most drivers cut the corner with double waved yellow flags, including the driver of car #31. Out of turn 16, he lifted significantly twice, allowing Arvid Lindblad to get a run on the long, long straight and steal P7 before the line.
Esteban on the final lap drama at the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP
Speaking in the print media pen post-race, the Frenchman explained that he decided to make significant lifts to avoid a meeting with the stewards post-race.
“Yeah, I mean, starting with the end, obviously I cut the corner, because I didn’t know if Valtteri was in the middle of the track.
“So I thought, I don’t want to be at the stewards arguing that I gained an advantage, so I backed off and I thought that was going to be enough, but they are super fast in the straight, and I overdid it.”
A reward for not giving up
2026 has been incredibly tough for Esteban Ocon. His performances have been patchy in periods. However, he has also faced inconsistencies on car parts, severely compromising his chances on quite a few weekends.
In Baku, however, he was impressive and fast as both Haas drivers were very close on pace through qualifying and the race.
As well as having confidence for Malaysia, the 30-year-old reflected on a job well done on Saturday.
“But yeah, super happy with the result. When the car is working, that’s what we deserve.
“You know, we had a strong car since the beginning of the weekend, we took all the right decisions, on the pit stop under the Safety Car.
“I did the same overtake [on Lawson like] I did in Zandvoort, just before the line, so that was really good as well. And I gained two places there as well, you know, in two turn two also.
“So yeah, it’s been a really, really good race, I’m really happy with the result, and I think it gives just good positive vibes for everyone to move forward on that triple-header.
“We are going into a very difficult track with a lot of corners, a lot of high-speed corners, and we show that we have a car that’s pretty competitive.
“It should be like two exciting races for us, I’m looking forward to them.”
His point of view on the mega restart in Azerbaijan and playing the team game
Although his reaction time looked mega as he got Lawson just after the finish line, Esteban Ocon was not particularly pleased with it in the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP.
Once he got to the front of the midfield pack, he wanted to make sure Ollie Bearman got overtake mode every lap to hold off Arvid Lindblad. Ultimately, however, the British rookie passed both of them in the final four laps.
“Well, I mean, no, I was not in the right place, I was too far back.
“But I overtook Liam who was a little bit slow on the line. I was in the middle of the car, he was still in front, but that gave me enough to go into turn one. And then, yeah, I just dived into turn two on Ollie and got in front of him.
“And from there on, what was going to be difficult was to keep the overtake in front, and that was not possible, because the quick cars, they just disappeared. We were playing the team game with Ollie, I gave him overtake for the last, you know, four or five laps until he got overtaken by Lindblad, unfortunately.
“But yeah, I mean, we deserved that one after quite a lot of tough events.”
