Esteban Ocon is pleased with the turnaround that Haas were able to pull off in F1 Chinese GP, as Oliver Bearman reckons he shouldn’t have used ‘ciao’ on radio.
On Thursday, Haas team boss Ayao Komatsu went in-depth on the fundamental issue ailing the VF-25 especially in the high-speed corners. Things looked bleak even during the sprint race but there was some hope after qualifying, when Ocon made it in Q2 in a surprise finish.
The grand prix got exciting when Ocon managed to stay on the tail of Yuki Tsunoda and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, while fending off Alexander Albon. There was belief then to go all the way on one-stop strategy. The Japanese driver perished due to second stop which dropped him out.
At the same time, Ocon had enough pace to pass Antonelli in an aggressive move on the long straight taking some of the grass. This allowed him to end up seventh which was already a good result. But it only turned better when he gained two more places in fifth after Ferrari’s disqualification.
He was pleased with the turnaround from Friday and also from Melbourne. The car is still not rocketship but they can sense a good step already. “I had a bit of rallying at that time [overtaking Antonelli], but amazing turnaround in couple of days from Melbourne where we were last, from the words of Ayao we didn’t sleep much, we didn’t eat much, as we couldn’t because it was very frustrating to see where we were In Melbourne, but it was worth it,” said Ocon to media.
“A lot of meetings, a lot of thoughts, a lot of honesty between everyone as well, and everyone put their heart out there in the meeting to find solutions. And we knew there was potential some more to unlock, I didn’t think there was going to be that much to unlock. But it is very good news that there is more even to unlock. The car didn’t feel 100% in some places and it is very encouraging for the future.
“We need to keep going in that direction in the race otherwise, it was good strategy call by the team, tricky, I also didn’t know that it was going to be possible to go to the end. I am sure the team sweated a bit on the pitwall as well, it was a very ballsy call to do and we did it, so it is very good and well done to Ollie as well because coming back from where he came back on that strategy, finishing on the medium on so many laps, it was great to see both cars in the points.
“I think honestly, 90% is from all working on the car, we really turn the car from Friday to Saturday afternoon, as I said we changed 90% of the car, really found some good performance gain on my car and it really came alive. I think we still have to work a bit more in qualifying because looking at our race pace, qualifying should be better than where we were.
“But if we can do so and keep improving position in the races, we need to be on top of our game. It is not because we finished P7 (P5), that we will be there until rest of the year. I honestly thought we will face similar issues [to Melbourne]. In my mind, we were going to come here and prove something but it is still very-very tricky.
“It shows that what we have done is correct and we need to keep going in the same direction,” summed up Ocon, whose teammate Bearman climbed up to finish 10th originally. He switched to medium tyres very early but managed to make it stick for good part, that too while overtaking several cars in the process. He had hard time against Pierre Gasly, but managed to clear him in the end.
Like Ocon, even he ended up gaining couple of places to be eighth. “It was a really good day,” said Bearman to TV media. “I’m super happy with the result—I didn’t expect to score points. The car was fantastic. Everything I was doing with the car worked, and that’s a nice feeling to just have the groove and then to have some points to show for it.
“I was not expecting to do a one-stop; I was quite shocked when we pitted onto a medium, but the tyres were lasting much better than they were yesterday, and we did a great job with the set-up changes. I think this track definitely suits what we have. It’s the type of track that, on paper, is good for our car: Very smooth, not many bumps, and stuff like that, which — that’s what we’re looking for at the moment.
“We’ll try and smooth all the other ones out if we can. It is partly due to the track, but I think we can continue a decent amount of form for the next races. It is lovely, it is good that we can fight. The team has done an amazing job, we struggled a lot in the sprint, I am really proud of them and huge credit to them,” summed up Bearman, who used the word ‘ciao’ on radio when passing cars.
It is unclear where it came from, but he felt a bit regretful using it. “Everytime I was on the outside, I could switch and I said ‘ciao’, “continued Bearman. “I feel really bad now. We had two switchbacks in the Turn 14. It was with one of the Red Bulls and Alpine. So I was happy with those overtakes.”
Here’s how F1 Chinese GP panned out
Here’s Ayao Komatsu detailing about issues faced by Haas
