Putting his Haas just outside of points at the F1 British GP, Esteban Ocon saw the chequered flag in P13. After a close call at the start and some unfortunate strategy decisions, the French driver had a disappointing race. Nevertheless, this bad result does not reflect Ocon’s entire season, which has brought the driver a spot in the top 10.
Currently tenth in the standings, the Haas driver managed to find the potential of his car on more than one occasion. While he did not claim any points in Silverstone, Esteban Ocon’s 2025 season is admittedly quite good. Moreover, he is already close to matching his overall points at the end of last season. With 12 more races to go, the Frenchman is set to try and defend his position.
His overall race experience
The F1 British GP proved to be a challenging one for Ocon and Haas, largely due to the heavy rainfall throughout the race. Admitting his frustrations, Esteban Ocon highlighted the strategy mistakes that ruined his race. Furthermore, the French driver went on to emphasise the need for an internal analysis to figure out the issues.
While everyone pitted for new inters before the Safety Car appeared, Ocon stayed out. Eventually they boxed, putting him towards the back of the field.
“Yeah, it was a frustrating race. I think we did everything well in the beginning and then completely fell apart, which we need to review. So many things have happened. Yes, we should have pit for new inters.
We discussed a lot with the team, but clearly I think that one’s been missed overall. And from there, we boxed when everyone was bunched together, so we lost all the progress that we made.”
Additionally, Ocon talked about his experience from inside the cockpit of the VF-25. He explained the difficulties he faced when it came to just keeping the car on track through the rain:
“There’s a lot to review in that race. It wasn’t an easy one, and not a fun one from inside the car. The car was also pretty difficult to drive, this race, the whole race. It was about trying to stay on track pretty much the whole race. So it wasn’t fun.”
Start incidents at Silverstone
A wet race always brings absolute chaos in those starting laps. Fortunately for Ocon, he managed to avoid any race-ending collisions during the F1 British GP. However, the French driver shared his thoughts over one particular incident involving Liam Lawson, after which the Kiwi DNFed. Ocon gave his point of view on the collision, from which he was sandwiched between Lawson and Tsunoda.
“Yeah, I mean, at the start, you know, glad that everyone is OK. Obviously, there was someone on the inside. So I saw that they were going to close on me, so I braked. And when I braked to avoid the contact, well… Liam closed a little bit more and he took the whole energy of the impact.
“My car was apparently fine with this, which was a miracle.”
Bearman collision
Once they switched to dries in the closing stages, Ocon had another incident as teammate Ollie Bearman clouted into him as the Brit tried to pass into turn 6 on the wet line.
“And then, about the end, I think I was just disappointed with the situation. Sad about the situation, really, but good review, and see what we could have done better.”
Missing out on a podium opportunity?
Nonetheless, Esteban Ocon’s F1 British GP ended with quite a bit of disappointment. While the other drivers pitted for intermediate tyres, he stayed out. However, as everyone was bunched up under a Safety Car, his pit stop saw him lose all the progress he had made by initially staying out.
Even more frustrating, Ocon recognised that this race, in which Nico Hulkenberg claimed his first podium of his F1 career, could have been quite promising for him as well:
“There was an opportunity this race, yeah. It’s usually the ones that I pick normally, so I’m pretty pissed off about this race.”
