While most of the focus in Budapest on Friday was on Aston Martin’s upgrade package and an encouraging day for Fernando Alonso, another driver was quietly making progress following a difficult recent run.
For much of this season Esteban Ocon has been frustrated by issues with his Haas VF-26, with Silverstone the only recent race where he had no complaints.
The team have tried changing parts, but consistency has proved something of an issue, and it’s not been easy for the team to make the French driver feel comfortable. That process continued into the Hungaroring weekend.
“We are still working on it,” Ocon said on media day. “We are changing a lot of parts on the car once again. It won’t be the same engine, it won’t be the same floor, we have a different rear wing, so a lot of the parts are going to be different. So we’ll monitor the situation and see how it is in FP1.
“Obviously, there’s a lot less straight line speed [at the Hungaroring], but the concerning thing for me here was really the downforce on the rear that we were lacking, and the imbalance between front and rear that was not supposed to happen in Spa on Saturday.
“So we are going to monitor the situation. Hopefully, we’ll be okay here because it was fine in Silverstone, so there should be no reason that this persists.”
Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu has admitted that Ocon’s concerns are fully justified, while adding that Ollie Bearman has also been impacted at times.
“The inconsistencies we are having with, let’s say, car quality, we cannot pinpoint,” Komatsu said on Thursday. “Some of it we can pinpoint exactly where it’s coming from, and we can rectify it. But if you don’t understand exactly where that’s coming from, it’s difficult. Obviously, you cannot solve it.
“It’s an ongoing thing that really needs to improve. It doesn’t just happen on Esteban’s car – it happens on both cars at different points. So it’s something we really need to solve, because it’s very, very important to have that consistency.
“You’ve got to be able to have confidence putting the same spec assembly on the car, and perform in exactly the same manner. So that’s something we really need to solve as quickly as possible, and get on top of.”
The team tried once more to solve Ocon’s issues for the Hungaroring weekend, with a small rear wing update also adding some useful downforce.
And it all seemed to work. On a day made difficult by wind, along with a dusty and bumpy track, a lot of drivers had complaints – but in contrast Ocon was more than happy, taking P12 in both Friday sessions.
“For once, it was good,” he said after the second session. “We had a very good Friday, very positive. I think looking at the last couple of events, the last races, we really struggled, with some major issues. And today there weren’t any, but we need to keep that going for tomorrow.
“Of course, there’s a fresh engine that needs to go in [on Saturday], so we hope that’s not going to change the overall performance of the car. We’ve seen it did in the past, so we’ll keep an eye on that, from when you take the car apart, to when you put it back together.
“So that’s going to be our focus, to keep the consistency of the car the same, and hopefully, have the same day tomorrow because today was good. So far it seems to be good. It’s been a while, so we’ll see how that continues.”
Komatsu’s optimism was shared by Haas’ Head of Car Engineering Hoagy Nidd, who also made an intriguing revelation about a specific change intended to help Ocon feel more comfortable.
“Esteban is pretty pleased with the car,” said Nidd. “He’s on top of the through corner balance issues. He’s got a new steering rack on the car that he’s very happy with.
“So he’s pretty pleased with it overall. A few issues locking into Turn 1, but I think almost every car on the grid has done that today.”
However, Nidd downplayed the suggestion that the steering rack had contributed to the recent issues for Ocon: “No, he’s always wanted lighter steering on this car. We managed to get that for him, so he was pretty happy right from the get-go.”
Having Ocon back on top form is timely for Haas as the team have been losing out in the midfield battle of late, having failed to score a point across the last four races.
One thing that the team cannot afford is a repeat of the sort of self-inflicted drama seen at Spa, where the races of both drivers were compromised by punctures after first lap contact. Komatsu has made his feelings clear on the matter.
“We just have to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said. “As always, on Sunday after the race, I just wanted to hear points of view from both sides, and then I put my point of view. And then we spoke about it, and then in the days after as well – so it’s all fine.
“Whatever the reason, it just cannot happen again. Full stop. So we’ve just got to have clear rules of engagement.”
