Esteban Ocon's Haas car 'good potential' tested on 'very difficult' circuit

To HaasThe Bahrain weekend will already be decisive. The North Carolina team has been through a lot of emotions in the first three rounds of the season. In Melbourne (Australia), the VF-25s were clearly the least efficient of the field, and Ollie Bearman had two accidents that ruined his weekend. A week later, in China, the Americans were doing much better and were able to bring home big points by finishing 5th and 8th.

On the other hand, at Suzuka, Haas took a big chance by bringing a flat floor that had never been tested in a wind tunnel: a very risky bet, which turned out to be... half-paid. Oliver Bearman managed to get into the points by snatching 10th place, whileEsteban Ocon had much more difficulty exploiting his Haas (18th). The Frenchman had less time to adapt to the new parts, which may explain his delay on his teammate.

“It was obviously great that the team was able to make some changes in response to Australia. It was an incredible turnaround to come back with changes in the third round. So, really positive from that side of things, greets Ocon. Ollie (Bearman) drove these upgrades on Friday, and I had them on Saturday, from FP3 onwards. We're still analyzing why we didn't have the performance we expected. Unfortunately, the race pace was similar to that in qualifying, we weren't as quick as we should have. I had a bit more porpoising on my car, we also lacked top speed. So yes, all these elements made it difficult to exploit the car's potential. We're still investigating. There will be more tests on Friday on both cars to understand exactly where it comes from. But the good news is that it worked on Ollie's side, so we should be able to transfer it to my car very soon, no doubt about it. And from there, it will be easier."

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Haas still investigating to understand the gap between Ocon and Bearman in Japan

In Bahrain, Esteban Ocon returns to the circuit where he secured his first podium finish in 2020, finishing second behind Sergio Pérez. The Norman driver is not lacking in ambition as he begins the fourth Grand Prix of the season, even if he expects to struggle on a track where the deterioration is significant.

"I think we have good potential. We just have to manage to exploit it every time and optimize the car on each circuit. Here, we are a bit in the "house of Formula 1We did three days of testing. We learned a lot. There are still things we'll continue to test on our side. It's going to be an interesting weekend, hopes number 31. We'll see after Friday. It's a very difficult circuit for several reasons. It's the bumpiest on the calendar. There are a lot of traction zones. It will be interesting to see if what we did during testing actually works when everyone is pushing hard. So on Friday, we'll have a better idea. But it won't tell the whole story, I think, because this circuit is so different from the others that what we did earlier in the year is still more representative.

Last year, the American single-seaters did not score any points: Kevin Magnussen was ranked 13th and Nico Hulkenberg 16th, just ahead of… Esteban Ocon, in great difficulty with Alpine. For his part, Oliver Bearman arrives on a circuit that he knows well for having driven there in Formula 2 during the last two seasons. The Briton will, however, only have two free sessions to get into the swing of things this weekend, as he will be giving up his place to Ryo Hirakawa in FP1. The Japanese has just arrived fromAlpine to fill the role of reserve driver, after driving at home at Suzuka last weekend in EL1, In the car by Jack Doohan.

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