Sprint chaos, visibility problems, and yet the best qualifying of the year: Esteban Ocon shows strength in Miami—and praises the race director for making the right decision
Esteban Ocon experiences an intense sprint weekend in Miami – with chaotic conditions, a strong qualifying and plenty of praise for the race director. And although Sunday’s main race was rather mixed, it still gives the Haas driver a lot of encouragement.
The sprint in Miami began under difficult conditions: the wet track caused massive visibility problems for the drivers and made starting from the back of the field a tricky business. Esteban Ocon was particularly impressed by the quick reaction of new race director Rui Marques.
“I was really impressed. I couldn’t see anything at all – and they reacted immediately,” said the Haas driver about the red flag. ”The grip conditions were okay, but the visibility was terrible due to the humid air and the light. We even had water problems with the tear-off visors. It was definitely the right decision to cancel the start.”
After the restart, the race went smoothly – and also served as preparation for Ocon for what would later become his personal highlight of the weekend.
Best qualifying of the year: “We got the car right”
In qualifying, Ocon drove one of his strongest laps of the season so far – and finished ahead of a Ferrari and a Red Bull. “Probably our best qualifying of the year,” he sums up. ‘After the difficult sprint, we completely rebuilt the car to get the problems under control. Not everything has been solved, but we got the maximum out of it. That feels good – especially after the difficult weeks in Jeddah and also here in practice.’
Ocon was initially able to keep Lewis Hamilton behind him for a long time in the race, but as the race progressed, the Haas lost more and more ground. The Frenchman was also one of the drivers who was in the pits before the virtual safety car phases and was therefore unable to benefit from any time savings. In the end, he finished in twelfth place.
Nevertheless, he also praised the team: “My engineers did a great job, they can be proud of that.” At the same time, however, Ocon still sees work to be done for Haas: “The setup window for our car is extremely small. Even when both cars are set up the same, there are sometimes big differences. We need to work on becoming more consistent – but we already have some plans for the next races.”
