On a weekend when Haas celebrated their 200th Grand Prix, Esteban Ocon delivered a well-earned P9 finish at the Canadian Grand Prix, capping off a significant milestone with a valuable points haul.
Reflecting on the race, the Frenchman was overwhelmingly positive about the team’s performance, emphasising their ability to extract the maximum from the weekend.
“Very pleased. Very pleased with the whole work that the team did this weekend. I think we maximised the potential.”
An ambiguous race strategy from Haas
One of the most pivotal moments of Ocon’s race was the team’s bold strategic decision. The aggressive approach taken by Haas was not ideal. However, during the Canadian GP, race strategies are rarely straightforward. Variables such as tyre degradation, the timing of safety car periods, and unpredictable weather conditions all heavily influence race outcomes and strategy.
“It was not a clear cut that that strategy was going to be better before the race, but it paid off to take the risk.”
The strategy crucially placed Ocon in clean air for much of the race, allowing him to preserve tyre life and maintain consistently strong lap times. This enabled the French driver to gain key track position from overcuts.
“We managed to deliver very solid laps in clean air, which was the important one. So we overcut quite a lot of cars.”
Despite late pressure following a safety car period, Ocon kept his composure to bring the car home in P9.
“We bring the car home to seal the position at the end with the safety car. So quite a hard-beating race, but a very good, nevertheless
Haas’ 200th Grand Prix in F1
Beyond the race itself, the weekend carried extra significance for Haas as they celebrated their 200th Grand Prix. Ocon recognised the importance of delivering points on such a meaningful occasion.
“It’s a good reward for the team, you know, to get something out of our 200th race.”
Not only was this result positive for the team’s 200th race, but it was vital for Haas’s championship hopes. With an insanely close midfield in F1, every point-scoring opportunity counts in the long run. Ocon remained pleased with his result, acknowledging that these opportunities may be few and far between.
“Obviously, it is important to seal, you know, every opportunity that there is out there, because they don’t come all the time. And this weekend we did, so very pleased with that.”
