(Motorsport-Total.com) – Before the British Grand Prix, Esteban Ocon explains how they might save the Haas car of the 2026 season under certain circumstances. The VF-26, with its constant balance problems, has caused the team to score only three championship points since the Canadian Grand Prix.
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When asked if they have already been able to identify the poltergeist in their own car, Ocon answered on Thursday: “Well, we will scan different parts again this weekend. We have a different rear wing and a different floor with us. So we are trying to find out where the problem lies.”
Especially Ocon currently feels anything but comfortable. So far, the Haas driver has only been able to score three championship points and is often at the center of various transfer rumors around the team. Speculations that the 29-year-old says he “doesn’t give a damn” about.
“This has been a problem for a few [races], but the team is working hard to find out where it comes from,” said Ocon. “Only three or four days have passed since the last race. So we don’t yet have the answers from the last race, but we are scanning different parts.”
The investigation at Haas is anything but easy, according to team principal Ayao Komatsu. Various parts in different areas have so far not worked as expected for various reasons.
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According to the engineer’s assessment, errors likely occurred already during the manufacturing of the parts. In addition, Komatsu recently named “inaccuracies in the assembly of the car” as a problem. This also causes differences from weekend to weekend.
The floor number nine, which Ocon will use in Silverstone, is not completely new. Instead, it is a repaired specimen, which according to the Haas driver should not cause any additional problems. The 29-year-old summarizes the current balance issues as follows:
“I lack grip on the rear axle. For example, I can’t drive with such a steep wing as I would like to. Our balance is rather rear-heavy compared to [Bearman]. This is especially the case in the race.”
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“In races with high tire wear,” says Ocon, “I basically destroy my tires. After all, I have to somehow keep up with the others. I still manage the tires as best as I can.”
“But when I want to push, it causes twice as much damage as it should. In Barcelona, for example, I had to make one more stop than everyone else. In Austria, we didn’t do that, but it was very difficult to keep the car on the track.”
Thus, Ocon concludes: “Over one lap, I can more or less manage it, even if it is anything but optimal and we lack some performance there. But in the race, we have the big degradation.”
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The investigation at Haas is therefore likely to take some time. After all, Bearman shared the complaints about lack of grip on the rear axle after the Austrian Grand Prix. His assessment before the race in Silverstone:
“The answer lies in the fact that our competition has developed better and overtaken us. So in Austria, we couldn’t have gotten more out of it.”
“We have,” said Bearman, “not brought enough performance upgrades to the car compared to the competition since the first race. That is clear, and it was very clear last weekend.”
In the constructors’ championship, Haas is currently in seventh place, ten points ahead of Williams. The Racing Bulls, currently in sixth place in the standings, are already 23 points ahead of the North Carolina-based team.