Esteban Ocon shed more light on his superb start, how the rest of his race unfolded, the persistent problem he has been encountering since the sixth round, how much downforce his VF-26 is missing, the Haas F1 team’s search for solutions, and what his objectives are going forward following his disappointing sixteenth-place finish at the 2026 Austrian GP on Sunday.
Although Ocon managed to make it to the second segment of qualifying, his teammate Ollie Bearman outpaced him yet again.
Lining up fifteenth on the grid, the Frenchman started the race on the medium compound and moved up four places by the end of the second tour.
After boxing on Lap 18 for a fresh set of mediums, Ocon dived into the pits again at the end of Lap 34 to swap the yellow-walled tyres for the hard ones. In the end, the 35-lap stint on the hard tyres saw him take the chequered flag two laps down in P16.
Ocon on his superb race start and the timing of the VSC at the 2026 Austrian GP
Speaking in the print media pen after the F1 race, Esteban Ocon reflected on his fantastic launch off the line at the 2026 Austrian GP and how the timing of the Virtual Safety Car had compromised his race.
Revealing that he had worked quite hard with the Kannapolis-based squad to nail his race start, the 29-year-old argued that the choices he made on the first two laps to gain four positions were excellent.
Ocon also called attention to the fact that he could defend well for the first nine tours around the Red Bull Ring and that pitting a few laps before the announcement of the VSC put him at a disadvantage. While he lamented that the unfavourable timing of the VSC felt like déjà vu, he ultimately conceded that it was just a matter of luck.
“I mean, yeah, the start was mega; the launch was incredible. It’s something that we worked very hard with the team to get right, and also the choices in the first and second lap were really good.
“I kept moving forward. Then I was able to fight for the first nine laps, I would say.
“And then we got the Safety Car timing wrong again. Once again, we pit when the Safety Car is not there, and then five laps later it comes. So, that’s something that feels like a déjà vu, but yeah, that’s just luck.”
Persistent concerns over missing rear aerodynamic load
Emphasising how he struggled to keep his VF-26 on the track in the closing stages of the race, Esteban Ocon also disclosed that Haas, despite their best efforts, had been unable to remedy the problem of missing rear aerodynamic load during the 2026 Austrian GP weekend.
The four-time podium finisher stated that the lack of adequate downforce caused his rear tyres to degrade considerably faster and cost him several seconds of lap time.
Proclaiming that his tyres held up well for nine laps after each pit stop, Ocon pointed out how he would start sliding after that point and wreck them. Additionally, he revealed that he had encountered similar issues in Monte Carlo and Barcelona as well.
“But unfortunately, yeah, we struggled massively again. To be honest, I was struggling to keep the car on track towards the end of the race.
“The team, as I said, [has] done everything they could to try and fix the issue on the load that we are missing on the rear of the car. The problem is still there.
“I’m running at the bottom of the front wing, we are cooking the rear tyres, and I finish three and a half seconds slower than everyone else.
“So, it’s fun for nine laps every time I box. But after that I’m just sliding and, you know, killing the tyres, and I have to do one more stop compared to everyone else.
“That was very similar in Monaco, it was very similar in Barcelona, and it’s still a problem there.”
The missing points of downforce and the solutions Ocon tried during the 2026 Austrian GP weekend
Asked if his VF-26 is missing a few points of downforce relative to Bearman’s, Esteban Ocon responded, “No, it’s quite a lot of points; I can’t tell you exactly.”
In reference to him changing all the aerodynamic parts and what resolutions they are looking into to make his car healthier, the Frenchman reckoned that the difference in load between the two Haas cars can be tracked back to the floor. However, he revealed that he continues carrying a deficit despite having tried a couple of different floors already.
Furthermore, Ocon said that changing the front and the rear wing during the 2026 Austrian GP weekend didn’t lead to any improvements. Emphasising how the data points to an obvious lack of adequate downforce, he added they are baffled by their inability to find potential solutions.
“Apparently, it comes from the floor area.
“He [Bearman] has got floor 13, I got floor 14. I tried floor 15 and the deficit is still there.
“We changed the rear wing in the beginning of the weekend; that was also not making any improvements. Changed the front wing; that also did not make any improvements.
“We can’t seem to find it at the moment. But it’s clear on data; it’s there. Unbelievable, I’ve never seen that before in my career.”
Objectives going forward
In terms of the positives he took away from the 2026 Austrian GP, Esteban Ocon asserted that he had played the hand he was dealt to the best of his ability. At the same time, he acknowledged that his showing on the track was far from ideal.
Claiming that teammate Bearman’s car doesn’t have any underlying issues, the one-time F1 race winner, nonetheless, acknowledged the VF-26’s general lack of performance. Moreover, he stated they are concentrating their efforts on making his car robust again and unlocking their 2026 challenger’s full potential.
Noting that finishing the race was already an encouraging sign, Ocon reiterated how he has been struggling with the same issues lately and that they hope to finally resolve them at Silverstone. At the same time, he made a shocking remark that the pace of his VF-26 these days makes him feel like he is driving a road car.
“So, I think the positive is that we exploited the maximum out of what we had in hands. But obviously it’s very far from where we should be.
“I think there’s two issues, getting my car healthy and the overall performance, because even if Ollie’s [Bearman] car is healthy, we are still missing some performance.
“But already finishing the race for me would be a good step forward. I’m struggling a lot with the same things really, and we’ll keep pushing hard in Silverstone, and hopefully the problem will go away.
“At the pace I’m going, to be honest, it’s like driving a road car.”
Ocon’s priority for the upcoming round
With regard to the solutions they are exploring ahead of the 2026 British GP, Esteban Ocon stated that Haas are planning to cycle through a number of parts to come up with a resolution that fares better at Silverstone. Expressing disbelief that only one of the floors is functioning properly, he maintained that he has faith in the team’s ability to identify the source of the issue.
Nevertheless, Ocon restated how they haven’t been able to remedy the downforce problem in the past few race weekends. Underlining that the loss of time and the lack of progress are quite troublesome, given the effort they are putting into resolving a single matter, he admitted that their priority is to get on top of the issue, once and for all, in the upcoming race weekend.
“We will cycle through, I guess, quite a lot of parts to find hopefully something that will work better. It can’t be that there’s only, you know, one floor that is working. We haven’t seen that before. I have full trust with the team that they will find the problem.
“It’s just that it’s been there for quite long now, quite many races. We are losing time, we are losing progression, understanding. We are putting a lot of effort on just that, and it is problematic.
“So yeah, that’s the priority obviously for the next race.”
