Haas crew principal Ayao Komatsu has admitted he anticipated higher from Esteban Ocon within the 2025 Method 1 season.
Ocon joined Haas final yr after leaving his longtime Alpine outfit, teaming up with Oliver Bearman, however in opposition to all expectations he was outscored by his rookie team-mate over the 2025 marketing campaign, with 38 factors to 41.
Bearman additionally outqualified his elder 17-11 (excluding technical points), and these statistics have been no fluke. Ocon’s outcomes have been up and down; because the season progressed and the younger Briton’s type ramped up, he discovered himself outperformed increasingly usually.
Ocon was rising more and more sad together with his automotive’s behaviour, particularly underneath braking, however Komatsu believed the issue lay together with his driving model – given Bearman had no such concern.
All issues thought-about, Ocon’s inaugural marketing campaign at Haas didn’t dwell as much as expectations, and his crew principal may be very open about it.
“In the event you purely have a look at the sporting end result, with out going to particulars, for certain no one’s happy with Esteban’s sporting end result final yr, proper?” Komatsu stated. “You understand, he is a team-mate in opposition to a rookie. Sure, superb rookie, however nonetheless, he is obtained 10 years of F1 underneath his belt. He is a race winner, he is a podium finisher. So we anticipated extra from him.
Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Crew VF-25, Ayao Komatsu, Crew Principal of Haas F1, Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Crew VF-25
Photograph by: Haas F1 Crew
“And clearly, it is not completely his fault, it is 50-50, proper? Typically it is the crew, we could not give him the automotive that he was comfy [with], particularly in qualifying.
“After which some circuits, that is obtained exaggerated far more than different circuits. Have a look at Baku, you understand, he actually wasn’t pleased with sure braking efficiency, then he was miles off within the qualifying tempo. Sure, Baku occurred to be considered one of Ollie’s strongest circuits, however we did not count on Esteban’s worst day to be to this point off.
“However once more, there’s not one motive, there’s not only a driver, there’s not only a crew, after which every occasion is completely different. So there isn’t any frequent underlying issue, there isn’t any [silver] bullet; it is only a course of, how we work collectively to get the underside of it a lot faster after which put issues in place for subsequent race.
“That is the bit I really feel we – all of us collectively, crew and driver – did not do it very nicely final yr, as a result of I actually felt like we should always have gotten on prime of that faster.”
Komatsu introduced up final yr’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the place Ocon struggled a lot on Friday that he instructed Canal+ he “felt like a rookie who’s by no means pushed an F1 automotive”.
“There’s plenty of instability,” he then added. “I really feel like I can’t drive anymore, I can’t put a lap collectively anymore. It’s been unmanageable for a lot of races.
“We are able to’t remedy the problems and it doesn’t match my driving model, so… We’re simply gradual. We’re very, very removed from the place we needs to be.”
But, he narrowly outqualified Bearman to succeed in Q3; he then took a fantastic seventh within the race, from eighth on the grid.
Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Crew
Photograph by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Photographs by way of Getty Photographs
“Have a look at Abu Dhabi on Friday, he was utterly off the tempo, like 4 tenths off Ollie; Saturday, bang, he was on the tempo,” Komatsu identified.
“Once more, it is not only one massive [silver] bullet, it is a number of – I would not say little issues, however I might even say little issues, few issues that actually set off, as an example, a snowball impact. After which we’ve actually obtained to get on prime of these issues faster, as a result of Esteban’s potential is evident.
“In the event you have a look at Abu Dhabi, what he can do on Saturday, Sunday, coming off the again of a really poor Friday, that is the expertise he has, that is the aptitude he has. After which we have got to harness that, we have got to verify we use that, as a result of we actually want two drivers this yr. I imply, we wanted each of them final yr, however we’d like extra this yr.”
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