Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix brought a much-needed boost for Esteban Ocon, who celebrated a return to the points with a hard-fought run to seventh-place in the Principality.
After a string of challenging and inconsistent weekends, the Haas driver capitalized on a strong qualifying performance and impeccable execution on race day to score his first top ten finish since Bahrain last month.
Starting from P8, Ocon benefited from well-timed pit stops on Laps 16 and 28 – mandated by the race’s one-ff two stop rule – that allowed him to leapfrog into a points-scoring position.
His climb was aided by the retirement of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, but it was Ocon’s flawless display that sealed the deal, earning Haas six crucial points in the tight midfield battle.
Reflecting on the weekend, Ocon was brimming with satisfaction.
“I think it’s been a great weekend all around,” he said following the race. “We really didn’t put a foot wrong from qualifying to the race.
“We put everything together when it mattered, so really happy for that. It’s six points for the team which is a big thing, so I’m really satisfied with this.”
The Frenchman also highlighted the team’s progress, noting, “We did make a lot of progress all the way to qualifying.
“This is super positive and we need to take that into account and really look into how we can get more consistency out of the other weekends.”
Looking ahead to the final leg of the European triple-header, Ocon remained cautiously optimistic.
“Barcelona will be a very different circuit – a lot more downforce bias and more engine bias. We’ll see what we can get but so far we’ll take this one,” he added, eager to build on Monaco’s momentum.
For Ocon’s teammate Ollie Bearman, however, Monaco was a weekend to forget. A costly mistake in FP2 – passing Carlos Sainz under red flags – resulted in a crippling 10-place grid penalty, forcing the teenager to start his race from the back of the grid.
Despite Haas attempting an alternative strategy with early pit stops on Laps 1 and 17, the Briton could only manage P12.
“I think we did the maximum,” Bearman reflected. “Congrats first of all to Esteban, I’m really happy that the team scored some points today.
“That’s a really nice feeling after a difficult weekend on my side of the garage. There were no points on the table with the way the race panned out.”
With a strong result in the bag and clear signs of progress, Haas leave Monaco confident – and Ocon, deservedly, back in the spotlight.
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