Long faces at Haas: the team is desperately searching for competitiveness
Haas ended the Canadian Grand Prix weekend with mixed emotions. Ollie Bearman’s point-scoring finish once again confirmed the strong rookie season the British driver is building, while Esteban Ocon continued to struggle through a difficult run of form combined with a fair amount of bad luck.
More broadly, however, the overall performance level of the American Formula 1 team was simply not competitive enough compared to its direct midfield rivals. A clear change of direction is needed heading into the upcoming races. Monaco, with its unique circuit layout and unforgiving nature, could offer a very different opportunity, where qualifying performance and race strategy will be absolutely crucial in securing strong grid positions and valuable points.
Below are the post-race reactions from Ollie Bearman, Esteban Ocon and Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu after a demanding weekend in Montreal.
The emotions inside the Haas garage
“I don’t know if we really deserved the points today based on our performance, but we’ll take them considering there have been weekends where we definitely deserved points and came away with nothing. Overall, it was a very difficult weekend for us, but scoring points is still positive. We could have scored more, but we had a slow pit stop, so we need to understand why that happened,” underlined Ollie Bearman after finishing tenth.
“It was very slippery and challenging out there, and I chose to start on the used soft tyre because I thought it would help me on the opening lap, but in the end we had three extra formation laps, so I don’t know if I really benefited from it much. I don’t think we’re leaving with huge smiles on our faces, but we have a week before we need to come back stronger in Monaco,” he concluded.
Esteban Ocon’s race was even more complicated, with the French driver battling persistent braking problems throughout the Grand Prix.
“It was tough, to say the least. There was something not working properly under braking and I kept locking up, so we need to investigate it further. We changed the car with the new upgrade that we tested in qualifying, so I had only done two real laps with it, but as a team we’ll go back and study everything,” added Esteban Ocon.
Ayao Komatsu’s analysis
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu openly admitted that the Canadian Grand Prix turned into a particularly demanding race for the team, especially because of the difficult conditions and the balance limitations of the VF car.
“It was a very challenging race. The tyre choice was really difficult at the start and there were extremely low-grip conditions with misty rain, but at least we started on the correct tyre — degradation was very low. With the balance issue we faced this weekend, it was very difficult for both drivers to keep the front tyres alive and keep brake locking under control,” he admitted.
Speaking about the performances of his two drivers, Komatsu added: “On that front, I think Ollie did a very good job, while Esteban struggled a little more, but I believe the root cause of the issue is the same. We understand why we had a slow pit stop, so we need to improve that. At least we came away with one point, which is a positive aspect, and we know why we were unable to perform this weekend, so the message is to stay united. The only thing that matters is how we move forward from here, finding the solution, improving the car, improving the execution, and we can do that,” he concluded.
Despite leaving Canada with only a single point, Haas knows the bigger concern lies in the lack of outright competitiveness shown throughout the weekend. The team remains stuck in a tight midfield battle where even small performance gains can make a huge difference, and Monaco will represent an important test of whether the American squad can react quickly enough to return to fighting consistently inside the points.
Leave a Reply