– The small Haas team was brought back down to earth at the Miami Grand Prix, after Oliver Bearman had been able to keep up with the top teams at times in Australia and China. This time, both the Brit and teammate Esteban Ocon were powerless and left without championship points.
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“The race was not optimal,” Ocon admits, especially with regard to the strategy. “I think we were all well positioned at the start, with decent starts and the first few laps. Unfortunately, we lost a lot of time after the pit stop, so we need to analyze exactly what we could have done better there.”
“But I think we were able to take away many positive aspects from the weekend, apart from the somewhat slower pace.” Ocon qualified 14th and ultimately missed the points by a wide margin with 13th place in the race.
“Improved in many areas and identified problems”
“There are many things we could have done better this weekend, and we should avoid such mistakes going forward,” the 29-year-old mainly holds his Haas team responsible. “That will help us in terms of performance, understanding, setup, and communication.”
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“We improved in many areas over the weekend and identified problems. So I am quite satisfied with this work.” In the sprint qualifying, Ocon even only reached 17th place on the grid but managed to work his way up to 11th in the sprint.
“It was much cooler, that’s the main reason,” the Frenchman ponders about the unexpected progress. “The cars that were faster than us in sprint qualifying were still faster now. So I think we improved a bit, but everyone else improved as well.”
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“New car”: Haas brings updates for Canada
“Overall, it was a difficult weekend, but we knew that based on our upgrade strategy, and we still got close to the top 10,” adds team principal Ayao Komatsu. “We put ourselves in a position to score points, and we were very close, so we have to take the positive aspects with us.”
“This weekend gave us some clues about where we need to improve, regardless of update or specification, in terms of understanding procedures and processes, so we will address that before Montreal.”
For the next race in Canada (May 24), Haas even already has an update planned, although it is, like in Miami, a sprint weekend. “I am looking forward to having an upgrade and getting it running right from the start during a sprint weekend,” says Komatsu.
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“We can be proud of what we have achieved so far, and I am looking forward to traveling to Canada,” says the team principal, and Esteban Ocon also seems confident: “I am curious to see what the new car can do in Montreal.”
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