Esteban Ocon needs to improve his handling of super-tenders
In his first F1 qualifying session, Esteban Ocon could do no better than 18th. He trails his teammate Pascal Wehrlein by half a second.
Esteban Ocon’s first qualifying session in F1 did not end as he had hoped. While Pascal Wehrlein managed to make it to Q2, the Frenchman stopped at the first stage. According to him, the key is understanding the super soft tires: “I am obviously disappointed. Failing so close to Q2 is definitely disappointing. I’m still having a bit of trouble with the super softs. I’m still lacking a bit of experience with these tires which I missed.”
This is how Pascal Wehrlein was five-tenths ahead, which can never be satisfying for his teammate: « *I think they are normal but, inevitably, I find it’s too much. But the whole team is happy with what I’ve done. I didn’t make any mistakes. Let’s not forget that I’m twelve Grand Prix behind. We’ll need to perfect the super softs in the upcoming Grand Prix.* »
The challenge with these Pirelli tires is both to get them up to temperature and to manage them throughout the lap, as he has never truly driven with this type of very short-lived tires: « It’s very hard to find the right usage window. The warm-up lap is very meticulous. You also need to hit the rhythm and use it differently from the softs. I’m quite good at transitioning from mediums to softs, but I still need to improve from softs to super softs. »
However, the good news for the Frenchman is that he should not have to use these tires during the race, relying more on long stints with medium and soft compounds. His pace with the latter is thus very encouraging: « In the race, it will be a different experience. It won’t be about pure performance but managing the tires. We’ll need to seize every opportunity that comes our way. There should be plenty here as there are many chances to overtake. »
Now it’s going to be necessary to succeed in the next step, namely the departure. Since the departure procedures are particularly complex, a lot of work awaits him: « *It will need to be reworked well because it’s not great yet. I need to perfect the procedure.* »
From our special correspondent at Spa-Francorchamps
