Despite a strong P8 finish at 2025 F1 Bahrain GP, MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon failed to impress on the first two days of the Saudi Arabian GP. After finishing all three Free Practice sessions near the bottom of the timesheets, the Frenchman suffered similar disappointment in the Qualifying session. Despite setting the early benchmark, Ocon was no match against his faster rivals, or even teammate Oliver Bearman. Though he improved his time on the final lap of the 2025 F1 Saudi Arabian GP Qualifying session, Ocon remained in P19 as the chequered flag waved.
Ocon “had to try” something different to overcome VF-25’s lack of pace
While speaking to the media after Saturday’s disappointing Saudi Arabian GP Qualifying session, Ocon stated that his VF-25 had lacked pace around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. The Haas driver explained that he had attempted a different approach to his lap to compensate for this lack of pace. Despite this attempt being unsuccessful, Ocon admitted that he did not think that he would have been able to extract more from his VF-25.
“Obviously, we were lacking so much pace that I had to try and do something.”
“I don’t think it would have changed a whole lot. I lost like 2.5 or 3 tenths, but 3 tenths would have brought me 17th instead of 19th. So, that wasn’t really the issue.”
Haas seeking to “optimise” the Saudi Arabian GP race
Ocon acknowledged that the Kannapolis-based team had been struggling throughout the weekend and identified the need for work to be continued.
“We’ve struggled a bit this weekend, clearly since the beginning, since FP1. So we need to try and keep on working with the team as we always do.”
Despite the expected challenges, made worse by his low qualifying position, Ocon is optimistic that the team can turn things around in the Saudi Arabian GP race. He stated that he and his team planned to race “the best way [they] can and would work toward optimising their performance.
“I’m sure we’ll come out on top of this tricky situation when we get them. We’ll race the best way we can tomorrow and see if we can optimise the race.”
However, when asked what aspects of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit seemed to work against the VF-25, Ocon indicated that he would need to review the findings from the sessions before he could make a definitive statement.
“I just came out of the car, so I need to keep looking,” he replied.
Regardless of the work ahead, Ocon, who sits ninth in the 2025 F1 World Drivers’ Championship standings, will be hoping to replicate his teammate Bearman’s Bahrain GP performance. After starting P20, Bearman made his way up through the pack to finish P10, just two places behind Ocon, who finished P8.
