Esteban Ocon expressed his frustrations about the performance of his Haas car after the Australian Grand Prix. The Frenchman finished eleventh and has become more critical of the VF-26. According to him, this is mainly due to the differences between the two Haas cars. “There are big differences in the setup between Bearman and me,” said Ocon.
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Esteban Ocon started the race in good spirits, but soon noticed a lack of performance from his Haas car. “It is exactly the same as last year, which is very frustrating. There are stability issues with the car and big differences in the setup between the two cars. We are not far from the points, so the car can perform better than what I have shown now,” the 29-year-old driver told the media in the paddock.
‘Not a car to drive’
At the start, Ocon climbed from thirteenth to eighth place. “We won many positions at the start. We pitted during the Virtual Safety Car, which was very positive. Everything looked good,” the Frenchman concluded. After that, however, the lap times were disappointing. “The tire wear was enormous. It looked like a flashback to last year, it didn’t work then either. We have to solve these problems, it’s as simple as that.”
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According to Ocon, there was a clear difference in the setup of the two Haas cars. Teammate Oliver Bearman drove a car that had understeer but was more stable and finished seventh. Ocon, on the other hand, had to deal with oversteer. “Oliver and I have two different problems again. It’s starting to get frustrating. My car was certainly not a good car to drive,” the Frenchman indicated.
‘Good lesson’
Energy management also played a role during the race, according to Ocon. “Overtaking was difficult. I was constantly overtaking and then being overtaken back. It was an endless battle with Gasly and Bortoleto.” The Haas driver clearly shows that there is still much to learn. “It was a good lesson in energy management. There are things we need to do differently in the next races. Hopefully, we don’t have to relearn everything at every circuit. This was only the first race, so we’ll see how it goes in China,” Ocon concluded.
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