Esteban Ocon disappointed with his qualifications at Spa

Esteban Ocon will start from 17th position in his first Grand Prix of F1 in Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium). Rio Haryanto's replacement at Manor Racing, who will move up one position following Esteban Gutiérrez's penalty (Haas), hoped to reach Q2 but he finally finished behind Felipe Nasr, being beaten by half a second by his teammate Pascal Wehrlein who started two rows in front of him.

“This first experience in qualifying was quite difficult, admitted Esteban Ocon. I was quite happy with my pace, but it's not easy to start your career in F1 when the halfway point of the season has passed. I need to spend more time behind the wheel, test the super soft tires more and move around in traffic. This is something that is also complicated with all the cars slowing down after their flying laps. »

“I need more experience than the three practice sessions to exploit all the potential available. This is something that I will have to face in each race by evolving step by step, said Esteban Ocon. Despite everything, I was very fast with the soft tires. Even though I'm a little disappointed with the day, I'm also excited for what's to come. »

Pascal Wehrlein also hoped to do better after setting the ninth fastest time in Q1.

“I was very happy to reach Q2, but unfortunately we no longer had sets of new super soft tires and I had to do my time with worn tires”, explained the German.

Belgian Grand Prix results

Photos from the Belgian Grand Prix