“We expected more” from Esteban Ocon – Haas

Haas staff principal Ayao Komatsu has admitted he anticipated higher from Esteban Ocon within the 2025 System 1 season.

Ocon joined Haas final yr after leaving his longtime Alpine outfit, teaming up with Oliver Bearman, however towards all expectations he was outscored by his rookie team-mate over the 2025 marketing campaign, with 38 factors to 41.

Bearman also outqualified his elder 17-11 (excluding technical points), and these statistics had been no fluke. Ocon’s outcomes had been up and down; because the season progressed and the younger Briton’s kind ramped up, he discovered himself outperformed increasingly typically.

Ocon was rising more and more sad together with his automobile’s behaviour, particularly underneath braking, however Komatsu believed the issue lay together with his driving fashion – given Bearman had no such concern.

All issues thought-about, Ocon’s inaugural marketing campaign at Haas didn’t reside as much as expectations, and his staff principal could be very open about it.

“For those who purely have a look at the sporting consequence, with out going to particulars, for positive no person’s glad with Esteban’s sporting consequence final yr, proper?” Komatsu stated. “You realize, he is a team-mate towards a rookie. Sure, wonderful rookie, however nonetheless, he is received 10 years of F1 underneath his belt. He is a race winner, he is a podium finisher. So we anticipated extra from him.

“And clearly, it isn’t completely his fault, it is 50-50, proper? Typically it is the staff, we could not give him the automobile that he was comfy [with], particularly in qualifying.

“After which some circuits, that is received exaggerated far more than different circuits. Take a look at Baku, , he actually wasn’t proud of sure braking efficiency, then he was miles off within the qualifying tempo. Sure, Baku occurred to be considered one of Ollie’s strongest circuits, however we did not count on Esteban’s worst day to be thus far off.

“However once more, there’s not one purpose, there’s not only a driver, there’s not only a staff, after which every occasion is totally different. So there is no widespread underlying issue, there is no [silver] bullet; it is only a course of, how we work collectively to get the underside of it a lot faster after which put issues in place for subsequent race.

“That is the bit I really feel we – all of us collectively, staff and driver – did not do it very nicely final yr, as a result of I actually felt like we should always have gotten on prime of that faster.”

Komatsu introduced up final yr’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the place Ocon struggled a lot on Friday that he informed Canal+ he “felt like a rookie who’s by no means pushed an F1 automobile”.

“There’s quite a lot of instability,” he then added. “I really feel like I can’t drive anymore, I can’t put a lap collectively anymore. It’s been unmanageable for a lot of races.

“We will’t remedy the problems and it doesn’t match my driving fashion, so… We’re simply sluggish. We’re very, very removed from the place we needs to be.”

But, he narrowly outqualified Bearman to achieve Q3; he then took a wonderful seventh within the race, from eighth on the grid.

Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Staff

Photograph by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Photos by way of Getty Photos

“Take a look at Abu Dhabi on Friday, he was fully off the tempo, like 4 tenths off Ollie; Saturday, bang, he was on the tempo,” Komatsu identified.

“Once more, it isn’t only one large [silver] bullet, it is a couple of – I would not say little issues, however I might even say little issues, few issues that actually set off, to illustrate, a snowball impact. After which we’ve actually received to get on prime of these issues faster, as a result of Esteban’s potential is obvious.

“For those who have a look at Abu Dhabi, what he can do on Saturday, Sunday, coming off the again of a really poor Friday, that is the expertise he has, that is the potential he has. After which we have got to harness that, we have got to ensure we use that, as a result of we actually want two drivers this yr. I imply, we wanted each of them final yr, however we want extra this yr.”

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– The Motorsport.com Staff