Esteban Ocon finished 12th in a shot group of French pilots, between an Isack Hadjar frustrated and a resigned stone. The Haas F1 driver is himself honest that his VF-25 lacked rhythm throughout the weekend in Miami.
“We lacked performance today, we were not as fast as the cars in front and we were distanced. The feeling of the car was not bad, but we were unlucky with the virtual safety car, we could not save time” note Ocon.
“At the start too, we lost a little time because I choose the bad side with Norris who must decelerate, and I lose a place against Tsunoda. We are outside the points today but we will continue to push and have more performance at the next race, and the team has a plan to develop the car.”
Heroic against Lewis Hamilton in the first relay, Ocon reveals that he wanted to resist: “Normally I do not defend because he has more speed and I knew he was going to finish in front. But I was tired of being passive in these situations, I told myself that we did not have the speed but that he was going to stay behind a few laps! But it would be good to have more performance.”
Oliver Bearman experienced a good start to the race before an engine failure: “Everything was going well, but I spent a good part of my time under the effect of the DRS train, which was obviously not ideal for the tires. I think we had a certain rhythm, but not enough to get into the points.”
“We must analyze what happened: I lost the power and it is a shame that we could not finish the race. I retain the positive, our rhythm and our performance in the sprint were competitive, and we are going on.”
