Esteban Ocon hopes Haas can bounce back in Canada
Haas drivers Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman are hoping to bounce back at the next round of the calendar in Canada, after a difficult weekend at the Spanish Grand Prix where they finished 16th and 17th respectively.
The team’s results have been inconsistent during this Triple Header, with the highlight being a 7th place for Esteban Ocon in Monaco.
Haas wants to bounce back in Canada
But luck was not in Barcelona: the decision to keep the French driver on track during the late safety car deployment, while he was on worn medium tires, cost him several places at the restart.
Reflecting on his afternoon at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the Norman explained: We tried to stay on track with worn tires under the last Safety Car – anyway, we would have been at the back of the grid, so it wasn’t really worth it. But there you go, end of the triple confrontation for us, with positives at times and also more challenging moments. Thanks to the team for the support during these three races. It’s good now to have a week to analyze all this and, hopefully, come back stronger.
Buoyed by his strong performance in Monte Carlo, Esteban Ocon hopes the team can replicate such a result at the Gilles-Villeneuve circuit. We will focus on the positives from races like Monaco. Canada is another urban circuit, so we hope to regain our true level there.
A costly penalty for Bearman
On his side, Ollie Bearman seemed capable of fighting for points in Spain, but a 10-second penalty – for leaving the track and gaining an advantage from overtaking Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) – relegated him to the back of the standings.
« It was going quite well », he commented after the race. « Unfortunately, we couldn’t really fight for points today, but I think we improved throughout the weekend, and the car was performing a bit better today than on Friday and Saturday during the long runs, so that’s a positive point. Unfortunately, we lost a bit under the Safety Car, it’s a shame but that’s part of racing. »
When asked what he and the team could take away from this Triple Header, Ollie Bearman acknowledged that the high temperatures in Barcelona had highlighted certain weaknesses in race pace compared to their competitors. I think we struggled a bit more with pace this weekend compared to others, but overall we showed some good things over the last three rounds.
« There is a lot to take from this sequence, a lot to learn, especially from this very hot weekend. It exposed some weaknesses in our race pace, but now we move on to Canada and I can’t wait to be there. »
