Some drivers (such those in points 14 and 13) have laboured to adapt to new teams after switching during the off-season. But Esteban Ocon appears to have found his feet at Haas very quickly and has delivered some excellent results for them.
Esteban Ocon
| Best | Worst | |
|---|---|---|
| GP start | 8 | 19 |
| GP finish | 5 | 18 |
| Points | 27 | |
That proved vital in the season-opener in Australia where Haas discovered handling deficiencies in their VF-25. Ocon’s new team mate Oliver Bearman missed most of practice, leaving the veteran to ensure the team at least came away from the weekend with useful data.
Ocon put that to great use with an outstanding performance in China. Having run well in qualifying to take 11th on the grid he passed rivals including Alexander Albon and, memorably, Andrea Kimi Antonelli for a superb fifth place. This wasn’t a fluke result aided by a well-timed pit stop in a wet race; Ocon ground out a result which looked far better than his car deserved at the time.
Since then Ocon has made a habit of dragging his car out of the lower reaches of the midfield and into the points positions. At time this has helped him to rebound from sub-par performances in qualifying: In Bahrain he spun in Q1, lined up only 14th on the grid, but battled his way forward to eighth.
Bearman went from 20th to 10th that day, but since then only Ocon has added to Haas’s points tally in grands prix. He gained five places in Canada after gambling by starting the race on hard rubber. Austria was an especially noteworthy performance, as he started only 17th, but made an important pass on Lance Stroll which allowed him to snatch the final point.
Another of Ocon’s best results came in Monaco. This time he did qualify well – at a track where doing so is especially important – and from eighth on the grid he came home seventh.
On other occasions Ocon hasn’t qualified as well or found the means to work his way forwards. This was particularly the case at Suzuka and Imola, tracks where overtaking is difficult, and before Haas introduced an upgrade which made a clear improvement to their car.
The tensions some predicted between Ocon and Bearman largely haven’t materialised, aside from an awkward tangle in the rain at Silverstone. Ocon has the upper hand for now, and gave the best indication of the team’s post-upgrade potential by starting and finishing fifth in the sprint race at Spa. So far he has plenty of reasons to be happy about his move from Alpine.
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