Esteban Ocon hails Haas’ « fine comeback » in Austria

Esteban Ocon praised Haas for their impressive comeback after moving from 17th on the grid to finish 10th, thus securing the last available point in the Austrian Grand Prix.

A winning strategy

The Frenchman managed his strategy well at Spielberg: starting on medium tires, he opted for an early pit stop to switch to hard tires, after a disappointing qualifying session that had relegated him to the back of the grid. He then followed up with a long stint before switching back to hard tires, managing to hold onto the last points position in extremis.

His teammate Ollie Bearman finished just behind in 11th place, playing a supporting role in the final laps.

“I’m very happy, given our position in qualifying it’s a great comeback from the whole team,” Esteban Ocon said after the race.

« We leave with a consolation point, but it means a lot because it shows that we have a very good car in the race. We just need a bit more performance in qualifying. The car was very solid and reliable, so thanks to the team for that, we were able to fight until the end. »

« It was intense on the track, just the way I like it, maybe a bit too much even because it could have cost us more, but we have to be satisfied with this point », he states.

Haas hopes for better

With hindsight, the team boss, Ayao Komatsu, felt that Haas might have missed a better opportunity, like Liam Lawson and Fernando Alonso who managed to make a one-stop strategy work and finished at the front of the pack.

« Moving from 17th to 10th place is normally positive, it’s a very good result », he said.

« What’s a little less positive is that I think we could have done even better with Esteban. He drove very well, his first two stints were solid, I think we might have made our first stop a bit too early. That eliminated the possibility of doing a one-stop race, which was feasible with his tire management and pace. »

As for Ollie Bearman, although he started ahead of his teammate in 15th position, he finished just behind him after losing ground in his second stint.

« We really struggled during the middle stint, that’s where my race got complicated », explained Ollie Bearman after the finish.

« The last stint was a little better, but I had to switch to mediums quite early, so it was still a long stint. »

Despite this encouraging comeback, Haas saw several of its direct rivals in the pack score big in Austria. Aston Martin is now just one point behind thanks to Alonso’s 7th place, while Sauber is only three points behind after a double top 10.