Back in the points
After three consecutive GPs without scoring any points, Haas has partially emerged from its slump thanks to Esteban Ocon’s performance in the Monaco GP. The Frenchman, who had surprised in qualifying with an eighth place, repeated himself with another solid performance, this time crossing the line in 7th. Two years ago, he had stood on the podium in the Principality with Alpine.
Well-executed strategy
Esteban Ocon remained consistently in eighth place even after the two mandatory pit stops required by regulations for this race, and gained another position following Fernando Alonso’s retirement. The Spaniard, in contrast, remains stuck on zero points in the overall standings after eight GPs. “I think overall it was a great weekend, from qualifying to the race,” said #31. “We put everything together when it mattered. That’s six points for the team, which is an important achievement, so it’s very satisfying. We made a lot of progress up to qualifying, we have to take that into account and carefully study how to achieve more consistency in the future. Barcelona is a very different track, with more aerodynamic load and more focus on the engine, so we’ll see what we can do next weekend.”
Nothing at stake
Formula 1 will now head to Spain, where Oliver Bearman will try to bounce back from another difficult weekend, which began with a ten-place grid penalty for overtaking Carlos Sainz under red flag conditions in FP2 and ended in 12th place despite starting last and suffering a pit stop error, with the front tires swapped incorrectly.
“First of all, congratulations to Esteban. I’m really happy the team scored points today — it’s a good feeling after a tough weekend on my side of the garage. I think we did our best, considering there weren’t any points at stake based on how the race unfolded. The car was great, especially on Saturday. The strategy was good, but with a 10-place grid penalty there was no chance to fight for points.”
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