Esteban Ocon cut a frustrated figure after the Miami Grand Prix, where he finished 12th despite starting in the top 10 following his first Q3 appearance of the 2025 Formula 1 season. The Haas driver lamented a combination of bad luck and insufficient pace that prevented the American team from capitalizing on a promising qualifying performance at the Miami International Autodrome.
Ocon’s race began with promise as he showcased his defensive skills, engaging in an entertaining early battle with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. The Frenchman held off the Ferrari driver for several laps, a highlight that demonstrated both his tenacity and the potential of the Haas VF-25 chassis. However, as the race progressed, Ocon found himself unable to maintain the pace needed to stay in the points-paying positions. “It was a solid race on our side, but we unfortunately lacked a bit of pace to be fighting with the quicker guys in front,” Ocon said after the race, reflecting on the performance gap that became evident as the 57-lap event unfolded.
The race was marked by three Virtual Safety Car periods, which disrupted strategies for several teams. Ocon’s sole pit stop, made under full-speed conditions on lap 23 for a set of hard tires, proved costly. Unlike some rivals who benefited from well-timed stops under VSC conditions, Ocon lost valuable track position. Notably, he was overtaken by Isack Hadjar, who capitalized on a more favorable strategy, while Hamilton’s superior pace eventually saw him pass Ocon on merit. “We didn’t get very lucky as we didn’t pit under VSC,” Ocon noted, highlighting how the timing of his stop contributed to his slide down the order.
Team principal Ayao Komatsu echoed Ocon’s sentiments, acknowledging the missed opportunity. “Esteban’s first stint was okay – he was fighting against Hamilton pretty well and held him back for as long as he did, so he drove well – but we didn’t get our pit stop timing correct, so we got undercut by Hadjar,” Komatsu explained. The team’s struggles were compounded by the retirement of Ocon’s teammate, Oliver Bearman, who was forced out due to a power unit failure, ending Haas’s hopes of a double-points finish.
Despite the disappointment, Ocon remained focused on the positives. His ninth-place qualifying result, described as the team’s “best quali of the year,” had raised hopes of a strong points haul. Posts on X captured the sentiment, with one user noting that Ocon “did well to hold off Hamilton for as long as he did,” though the consensus was that the Haas car lacked the race pace to compete with the front-runners. The team’s sixth place in the constructors’ championship, bolstered by Ocon’s fifth-place finish in China earlier in the season, underscores their progress, but Miami highlighted the fine margins that define success in the midfield. Ocon’s performance in Miami was a microcosm of Haas’s 2025 campaign: flashes of potential undermined by inconsistency and misfortune. “We’ll keep at it,” Ocon vowed, signaling his determination to turn strong qualifying performances into race-day results.