Esteban Ocon will compete in the Italian Grand Prix of Formula 1 this weekend in Monza with the old Ferrari engine, while Oliver Bearman will have the only updated unit from Haas via ADUO. The Frenchman, however, will receive the team’s new aerodynamic package.
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“I will not have the full updated package,” Ocon explained. “I have the [new] car in aerodynamic terms. I will not have the [engine] ADUO2. We will use this one here [old engine] because we only have one. That is the reason. So, I will race with the old engine. That will represent a considerable loss. But the updated car, I will have. So, let’s see what we can achieve.”
“I am excited to drive this new car. Obviously, we have the new aerodynamic package. I drove it on the simulator on Tuesday, and the feeling was better there. Of course, we need to translate that to the track, you know. It is not always guaranteed that it will perform like that on the track,” continued the Frenchman, who is at the center of rumors about leaving the grid in 2027.
The Frenchman believes the Italian circuit will not show the full potential of the package but hopes to observe differences: “Everyone on the team is excited and eager to see what this car is capable of. Obviously, it is not the most technical circuit for it. So, we will not see all the gain. We will see that better in Madrid. But still, it will be interesting to see how the car behaves in the Lesmos corners and the Parabolica compared to before. So, it is quite a significant package and I am looking forward to driving it.”
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Without scoring since the Monaco GP, Haas has lost ground to rivals in development. “We started the year well in terms of pace,” said Ocon. “And others developed a bit faster than us. We were waiting for this package. So, I hope it brings what we expect. I hope it brings us closer to the top 10. And then, hopefully, we can compete again with the Racing Bulls and the Alpines.”
Ocon also regretted the recent results, despite considering that he extracted the maximum from the car. “I feel that we maximized the car’s potential,” he added. “It was a shame to think that was the best we could do and not get much reward. So, I hope now, if we do that, we get something different as a reward.”
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