Ocon stays optimistic about closing the performance gap, with Haas’ latest floor update showing promise and Bearman’s impressive result in Japan.
Esteban Ocon remains calm about his performance deficit in Japan, where his teammate, Oliver Bearman, scored points. While acknowledging the need to improve, Ocon is optimistic that the new floor update will help close the gap.
“We’re still missing around four to five tenths,” Ocon explained. “It’s great that the team managed to bring this update so quickly and responded so well.”
“The update worked well on one car, which is encouraging. We need to analyze the data from Ollie’s side—it’s good to see him score a point.”
“From our perspective, we’re happy with that progress. Now, it’s about making sure we apply that to our car. We have no doubt we can get there.”
Team Principal Ayao Komatsu is confident about the new floor’s performance: “The data is clear, it’s working. We couldn’t figure out why Esteban wasn’t able to perform as expected.”
“Both cars, from what we can see, are very close in performance based on our measurements. It’s not that we’re missing something measurable, but we haven’t found any issues.”
Komatsu isn’t surprised by Bearman’s quick adaptation: “We’ve known since last year that Ollie is a great talent, and that’s one of the main reasons we signed him.”
“We started working with him in Mexico 2023, when he was just 18. He impressed us right away, and every time we worked with him, his feedback was spot-on. He understood the program and the objectives clearly.”
“It’s not just about driving fast. Of course, he can do that, but he also understands what’s expected of him and executes the program accordingly. That’s why we’re not surprised by his performance. We knew how much potential he had.”
Komatsu also praised Bearman’s performance in the Japanese Grand Prix, where his drive to secure a 10th-place finish was highly rewarding: “It’s a great achievement considering the amount of work that went into earning that single point. We’re pleased with what we managed to extract from the weekend.”
Reflecting on the team’s struggles early in the weekend, Komatsu noted the progress made: “On Friday, it didn’t look like we’d make it out of Q1. So, I focused on how we could improve the car and driver performance to avoid elimination. After a few tweaks overnight, we managed to make it to Q3, which was incredible.”
The Japanese team principal is pleased with how quickly his team identified and addressed issues: “This was the first step in solving the problems we had in Melbourne.”
“There are areas we still need to work on, but the steps we’ve taken, as I mentioned, were relatively safe solutions. For the other areas, we need a deeper examination through development, CFD, and wind tunnel testing, which we’re doing right now.”
“Once we have a fundamental solution ready for the track, we’ll confirm it. We’re aiming to have it ready for Imola, but it’s still not set.”
“It’s a positive first step, though. Since it worked, it shows our engineers are on the right track with identifying the issues and the direction we need to take. That’s very encouraging.”
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Bearman’s Success Boosts Haas as Ocon Targets Progress
Bearman’s Success Boosts Haas as Ocon Targets Progress