Esteban Ocon explains Haas Chinese GP turnaround after Australia F1 disaster
Haas went from finishing last in Australia to scoring double points in China in one week.
Esteban Ocon says Haas always knew its 2025 Formula 1 car had the potential after leading a double-point result for the team in the Chinese Grand Prix.
Haas endured a disastrous outing in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix just a week ago, with Ocon and Oliver Bearman qualifying near the rear of the pack and ending up last among the classified race finishers in 13th and 14th respectively.
This led some to conclude that the American team had fallen behind in its second year under new team principal Ayao Komatsu, and was now the slowest team on the grid.
However, Haas successfully bounced back from that setback just seven days later in China, with Ocon finishing an excellent seventh on-track ahead of Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Bearman bagging the final championship point in 10th.
Ocon was bumped up to fifth, and Bearman to eighth, when both Ferraris and Alpine's Pierre Gasly were later disqualified.
It followed a much improved qualifying from the Haas duo, with Ocon starting 11th on the grid and Bearman lining up in 17th place.
Ocon revealed that Haas put in a lot of work in the short gap between Melbourne and Shanghai, with further progress after practice and sprint qualifying on Saturday laying the foundation for the team’s best points haul since Mexico last year.
“Honestly a great turnaround from the team,” said the Frenchman. “They have done an amazing job in a couple of days to try and get some more performance out of the car. As Ayao said, we didn't sleep much and eat much.
“But super great and great that Ollie has managed to come back as well into the points, it's a double points finish for the team and that is very valuable for us.
He added: “I think we always knew there was going to be more potential out of the car but of course, it's a surprise to see how much this weekend.
“But we really changed 90 per cent of the car from Friday to how it was on Saturday. And really in qualifying the car came alive and suddenly I felt just more confident, I felt that I could attack much more.
“The car doesn't feel 100 per cent yet, which means we can continue improving.”
Ocon started the race on the medium tyre and quickly found a way inside the top 10, while Bearman also made early progress on the hard compound.
As the durability of the hard tyre became clear, both drivers switched to a one-stop strategy, which allowed them to make further progress through the pack.
Ocon said Haas’ form in China has lifted the weight off his shoulders, as the team has now been given a reason to believe that the VF-25 can achieve the results they think it is capable of.
“It's encouraging of course,” he said. “Everyone really put their hearts out in these couple of days because we knew there was going to be more in the car.
“But it's freeing the weight off our shoulders now, that we see we can fight, that we have the performance when we optimise the car in the right way.
“We should be pleased with the other work we have done. But also on the race team side, the strategy has been great today. It wasn't clear it was a one-stop race, it wasn't clear at all. When I had 30 laps to go I was like, ‘it was a bit of stretch’ but it worked well.”
