Formula 1 had another complicated race for Esteban Ocon, who finished in tenth position after a Japanese GP marked by missed opportunities. The Haas driver highlighted that the timing of the safety car once again hurt his race, repeating a scenario seen in previous rounds.
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Even so, the Frenchman evaluated the weekend positively, stating that the team managed to extract the maximum from the car. According to him, the result could have been better, but external factors prevented a greater advance on the grid.
Ocon began his analysis by showing concern about the accident involving his teammate, Oliver Bearman: “First, I’m happy that Ollie is okay. Unfortunately, it’s been three races in a row where the timing of the safety car was bad for us,” the driver stated, highlighting the impact of the neutralizations on his recent races.
On track, the Frenchman had what was considered a reasonable start and managed to stay competitive in the opening laps. However, throughout the race, he ended up losing positions to Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson; “We had a decent start and it was going well, then we lost out to Gabi and Liam,” he explained.
Ocon still managed to recover a position after overtaking Bortoleto on track, but was unsuccessful in trying to overcome Lawson: “I managed to overtake Gabi on track, but with Liam it wasn’t possible,” the Frenchman stated, highlighting the difficulty of moving forward in the midfield.
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He also commented that he would have liked to have participated in the battle between Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly, which was happening ahead: “There was a good fight between Max and Pierre further ahead, and I would have liked to have been part of it. However, I got stuck behind Liam, so we’ll never know if I could have participated or not,” he said.
Even with the limitations, Ocon evaluated the performance as satisfactory under the circumstances: “Overall, it was a positive weekend for us and we got the most out of the car in all situations,” he stated, highlighting the work done by the team throughout the event.
Finally, the Frenchman acknowledged that the result could have been better, but highlighted that not all factors are under control: “We could have finished a few positions ahead, but we can’t control everything,” Ocon concluded, after securing a point in the championship.
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