Esteban Ocon has delivered cryptic remarks over his lack of pace during qualifying at Imola.
Haas and Esteban Ocon endured a difficult qualifying session at Imola, with the VF-25 struggling for pace.
The car looked visibly difficult to drive. Onboards showed little front-end grip. Ocon also lacked confidence under braking for Imola’s tight and twisting characteristics.
As the clock counted down to the end of Q1, Ocon had no hope of progressing into Q2. His Haas was firmly rooted to the bottom of the timesheets.
At the end of the session, Ocon’s lap put him ahead of team-mate Oliver Bearman. However, this was still almost half a second away from moving into Q2.
Speaking to media after qualifying, Ocon said the team had performed far below its original expectations.
“We’ve prepped all the scenarios and we’re supposed to have a decent weekend here. But for various different reasons we struggle with things that are you know out of the ordinary.
Optimising existing package key for Esteban Ocon
The Frenchman confirmed that the issues facing Haas to change its ailing fortunes are vast.
“We were basically slowed down by by big things basically. We need to try and optimise all these things better trying to have, you know smoother and cleaner weekend on these sides.
“If we do so we should put the car back to where it belongs, you know, which is fighting for Q3 getting points.
Esteban Ocon did not elaborate on the issues facing the team. He did, however, hint that Haas could not improve its form unless the issues were removed.
“But it’s it’s too inconsistent and also the issues I mentioned, it shouldn’t shouldn’t happen. So we’ll be working as best as we can to all together to try and get rid of that in terms of like how the car feels.“
Asked again to elaborate how the car feels out on circuit, and if he is chasing performance rather than having the speed to perform, the Frenchman paused before stating: ‘I think I’ll stop there.”
Team-mate Oliver Bearman also suffered a frustrating qualifying session. He fell victim to the red flag bought out due to Franco Colapinto’s crash in the dying seconds.
Although Bearman completed his lap, and saw the time on his dashboard, it did not appear on the F1 timing screens. This was because as soon as the red flag was waved just before Briton crossed the start line, voiding his lap time.
