Ocon breaks down FIA shake-up as Miami reg changes spark fresh doubt

The Haas F1 driver, who witnessed teammate Oliver Bearman being in the crosshairs of one of the failures of the regulation – with the crash he experienced last time out in Suzuka – struck a cautiously optimistic tone about the latest tweaks. However, Ocon stressed that the only real reference point drivers currently have is the simulator, insisting a proper judgement can only be made once they hit the track in competitive conditions.

Speaking to GPblog in Miami, the 29-year-old explained that while the changes appear to be moving in the right direction, there is still room for improvement. Ocon also noted that the early-season issues have not been fully eliminated, even if the situation is clearly better than what was experienced in the opening three races.

“I think we need to wait and see obviously in reality how it's going to feel. The only reference we have is driving in the simulator and seeing the differences. I think there are differences that are going in the right direction, for sure. It's limiting the lift and coast that we have to do. It's limiting the weird driving a little bit that we have to do. I think we still have to do some. We can't drive exactly the way that it would be the quickest in the corner, because we would lose in the straight, still. But it's definitely better than if we would have started in the normal way," he said.

Speaking further about what he considers to be the big gains of the tweaks made by the FIA heading into Miami, Ocon highlighted the automatic launch during qualifying laps as particularly impressive. "I think the big gain also is the automatic launch before the qualifying laps. We had to do like 50% roughly before we were launching the car. This is not the case anymore. This is similar to how it was last year. We can prepare the last corner well and start the lap. So in theory, that's what's going to happen. We'll see in reality again. But it's small steps better. I don't think it's yet the full clear of the story, but I think there will be other iterations probably this year to try and improve further.”

Ahead of the Miami Grand Prix weekend, the FIA had rolled out several changes to the regulations, including changes which span across qualifying, super clipping and overall energy deployment. These changes have however continued to attract mixed reactions from drivers across F1.

While Ocon expressed optimism, two-time world champion Fernando Alonso was largely pessimistic about the influence the changes made would have on the racing. The Aston Martin driver highlighted how unsure he was about the changes made, hinting at a wait-and-see approach before making conclusions.

The 44-year-old, however, slightly tilted towards the claims made by his teammate Lance Stroll, who went all out in his criticism of the regulation.

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