No need for a reset button anymore: Haas has found the foundation for points – Ocon is optimistic about the weekend in China despite the sprint format
Was Haas’ strong start to the season just a snapshot, or will the US racing team be firmly established in the midfield by 2026? After encouraging performances in Australia, the team is now eagerly looking forward to the Grand Prix weekend in China. Esteban Ocon, in particular, sees a much more solid foundation than last year.
“It was a strong start to the season for us as a team,” Ocon said at the press conference, summing up the first few weeks of the year. While the team often had to contend with an unpredictable diva in the past, the current car seems to be a predictable quantity. “We have a car that we still need to understand more deeply, but we are already trying to get the most out of it.”
According to Ocon, the fact that the potential was not fully exploited in Australia was primarily due to technical bad luck at the decisive moment. “In qualifying, we weren’t quite where we wanted to be. Unfortunately, my underbody broke on the last lap, which meant we couldn’t show our full potential,” the Frenchman recalls.
Haas with a good foundation
But Ocon is optimistic about Sunday’s performance: “We seem to work well as a team in the race. That’s something we need to take with us into this race weekend.” However, the sprint format in China presents a special challenge: “There’s only one free practice session, so we have to make the most of it.”
The comparison with last year is almost euphoric for Haas. While the team was still struggling with massive balance problems and tire wear in Melbourne in 2025, there is now a completely different level of confidence in the garage.
“The basis of the car definitely has huge potential in terms of balance,” explains Ocon. “If we can bring everything together, it will be a huge step forward compared to Melbourne last year.”
China as the next blueprint
Back then, the team often had to press the “reset button” after overseas races to iron out the most serious mistakes. That’s no longer the case in 2026. “We don’t need to panic or restart from scratch. We have a foundation to build on. If we do a good job over the weekend, we can definitely fight for something decent.”
Whether it will be enough for the next points in the tight midfield will be seen on Sunday – in any case, confidence at Haas is higher than it has been for a long time.