Haas came away empty-handed from the Belgian Grand Prix in Formula 1 over the weekend. After a tangle right at the start, Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman had to pit, needed to make a recovery race, and finished outside the top 10.
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When the lights went out at Spa-Francorchamps, the duo had brief contact and punctured their tires. After two stops each, the Frenchman crossed the finish line in 17th and the Brit in 14th.
“Unfortunately, I got stuck in fourth gear before the incident and lost a lot of ground. As for the incident itself, I suffered a tire puncture, which is very unfortunate. I don’t know exactly what happened, but it’s disappointing, to be honest, because the car was quite fast. We were much closer to the Audis, which represents progress for this weekend,” said Ollie.
“I think there are many positives to highlight, mainly the fact that the car gives a good feeling and is much more fun to drive. The balance is much more cohesive, which allows pushing the car to the limit and making fewer mistakes while doing so. I think I had a very clean weekend in terms of performance, and the race pace was also consistent, which is good. So, we’ll regroup for the next round,” he continued.
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The Frenchman said, “It was the wrong place and the wrong time for both Ollie and me on the first lap; there wasn’t much we could do. We were three cars side by side and I think Ollie had a problem, so everyone tried to avoid him. I went inside Nico, let him pass, and when he had already advanced, I was still inside and we ended up touching. It was a shame, but it didn’t ruin either of our races.”
“We struggled with pace and, in my case, suffered with straight-line speed and lack of rear grip; we weren’t fast at all. We need to do a better job in Budapest, and I hope we can have a car similar to what we had in Silverstone or earlier in the year, in Japan,” he concluded.
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