In Canada, Haas celebrated its 200th Formula 1 Grand Prix with an excellent comeback thanks to a single-stop strategy that proved to be the winning choice by allowing them to run in clean air. But why did it work for Haas, enabling them to recover into the points zone, while for Ferrari and McLaren it would not have delivered the same results?
Important milestones deserve to be celebrated properly. In Canada, Haas marked its two-hundredth F1 Grand Prix and, after an inconsistent start to the season, there could have been no better way to honor this milestone than with a race finished in the points, in a comeback.
Looking back at the season, it is no secret that the American team often struggles more on single-lap pace compared to race distance, frequently finding itself forced to recover from the back. This happened, for example, in Bahrain when Oliver Bearman managed to reach the points after starting from last on the grid.
A similar scenario played out in Montreal, where both Haas drivers faced qualifying difficulties, hampered by a tough Friday despite attempts to optimize the setup to reduce understeer. The situation was so critical that the team had to use all the new tires already in Q1 to try and advance.
Moreover, getting the C6 tires to work in the correct operating window is not easy, as seen in Imola and Monaco. However, when the car was able to operate in the ideal range, it showed its full potential. Without the penalty suffered by Oliver Bearman, it would have been realistic to bring both cars into the points, highlighting both the car’s inconsistent performance and its potential.
A mix of results undoubtedly amplified by the tightness of the field in terms of performance: a few tenths can make the difference between Q1 elimination and a spot in Q3. However, this situation also opens new opportunities, especially in the race, where Haas took full advantage by adopting different strategies for its drivers.
While Oliver Bearman started on medium tires, Esteban Ocon chose the harder compound, turning the strategy into a double advantage. While other drivers began to suffer medium tire degradation, the Frenchman, the first to start on hard tires outside the top 10, was able to extend his stint and, above all, run in clean air, away from traffic.
Conversely, other drivers who started further ahead on medium tires and pitted early due to graining, such as Hulkenberg, Colapinto, Hadjar, and partly Bearman himself, were stuck in traffic with those who had started on hard tires from the back. Those who pitted early couldn’t make up the lost time with an additional stop, while Ocon continued for nearly sixty laps before his only pit stop.
“We have to congratulate the team for covering both options overall, because today it worked really well. We made the most of the clean air pace we had in the car, improving lap after lap. Also, we had a great race pace, now we need to work on qualifying,” Ocon said after the race, highlighting the winning choice by the team to diversify strategy to cover multiple scenarios.
Why it didn’t work for the frontrunners
One might then wonder why for the frontrunners, like Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc—who had even proposed the single-stop strategy to his team during the race—it wouldn’t have worked, while for Ocon it proved extremely effective. In the case of the Ferrari and the British driver, those starting ahead were not stuck in traffic and could express their desired pace without interference.
It’s no coincidence that, as analyzed in a separate detailed report, the Monegasque had based his single-stop evaluation on data from the early laps of the second stint of rivals, when the leading quartet of Russell, Verstappen, Antonelli, and Piastri had not yet pushed the pace, having to navigate traffic from Leclerc and Norris while also managing tires after an early pit stop.
Russell and the rest of the group, however, quickly overtook both Leclerc and Norris and then significantly increased the pace. This made the single-stop tactic ineffective for both the Ferrari and the McLaren driver, with strategists turning to two stops knowing that staying out longer would not provide advantages.
A completely different situation compared to Ocon and, more broadly, Carlos Sainz, who could exploit their good pace in clean air, while their direct rivals on two-stop strategies were still stuck in traffic, making it impossible to recover lost time from the extra pit stop.
This was the decisive factor that allowed Haas to stay out so long, also because if a Safety Car or VSC had appeared at the right time, there would have been a chance to save valuable seconds and try to overtake even Fernando Alonso, who had stopped for his second pit stop a few laps earlier.
Although the Safety Car eventually came out, it was too late to really benefit, but Haas was still able to celebrate its 200th Formula 1 Grand Prix milestone with an excellent result, looking forward to more top-10 finishes throughout the rest of the season.
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