Esteban Ocon says Haas had perfect execution in F1 Canadian GP, which allowed them to bypass others and score points using one-stop strategy.
It was another recovery for Haas after low-key qualifying. They have had results like this this year and F1 Canadian GP was no different. They opted for one-stop with Ocon and he became the leading car on the alternate strategy. He managed to keep Carlos Sainz and Yuki Tsunoda behind all-through.
It was mostly a lonely race for him considering the execution where he needed clean air to stretch a lead. And the team worked it perfectly. The only tension was during his pit stop where he could have lost the position earned, but it ended up perfectly to finish ninth – thanks to Lando Norris.
“It was extremely long, it was not an easy race or clear cut strategy that was definitely going to be preferred at the beginning of the race,” said Ocon to media. “It was all down to the team to make it happen and cover both grounds of all. It really worked out, we maximised the clean air pace that we had in the car, it was getting better lap after lap.
“It was not easy because we had to fight at the beginning of the race, all the way through and to keep the tyre under control is not an easy thing in that sense. But I still managed to do it, yeah, very pleased for the whole team, we got two points. The other thing that is very positive is the pace in the race which was very strong, as strong as Williams or better.
“We need to work a little bit more on one lap pace because the race pace is definitely much better than the quali pace. Exactly, it was a perfect execution. I had free track ahead, it was very clear that, it was looking great and I could do constantly good lap times and build on the lap before and improve on the little things in driving that I had to.
“You never know until you box where you will be but when I boxed, I saw I was in the points, that was a good thing,” summed up Ocon, who highlighted how Haas is able to recover well in races with better rate of degradation against its rivals. As noted above, the team has been solid in races where the key factor has been its ability to run longer than others.
“The way we try and set-up the car to protect one axle or the other, but also the way…I am quite careful at the corners, how much I am pushing the tyres and when I am to push them,” explained Ocon. “When I feel it is fine, I can really push them in the moment, I put the hammer down, I do it, but I know it will cost something, so there are time to push but sometime to think.”
