Esteban Ocon has revealed how Haas has “completely redesigned” the car’s steering wheel to facilitate his transition from Alpine for the Formula 1 2025 season.
Ocon leaves the Enstone-based squad after five seasons, stepping onto the podium four times for the French outfit, including his first and only victory in the sport back at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix.
The 28-year-old departs for the American outfit, partnering alongside rookie Oliver Bearman after the departures of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen.
Ahead of the team’s car launch at the F1 75 live event at London’s O2 Arena, he revealed that Haas redesigned its steering wheel for him in just two months.
“There’s been a lot of different things coming in, a lot of different ways the Renault and Ferrari car work differently,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“So, there’s been a lot of positives and I’ve been able to get around with things that I just feel super comfortable straight away and I’ve been able to work a little bit the same I’ve been working the last five years.
“That took basically two months to get it done, which was super impressive.
“The whole steering wheel needed a complete redesign for the clutch paddles, for example.
“That was a big, big job and I had that in my hands last week, which was incredible.
“The throttle pedal was the same thing, just redoing all the switches that I want like I was used to having at Force India and Alpine.
“Now at Haas, it’s been able to be done.”
Ocon says there was a ‘lot of positives’ after Abu Dhabi test
It wasn’t just the adjustments to the steering wheel and throttle pedal that needed doing, as Ocon went on to disclose.
“Also, the way I was using the power unit in the past, I’m going to be able to do the same racing-wise for the [energy] deployment and the cut of the deployment, which is very good,” he explained.
Ocon drove a Haas F1 car for the first time during the post-season Abu Dhabi test last December, and coming off the back of the session, the former Force India racing driver was in good spirits.
“Obviously there are a lot of positives driving the car in Abu Dhabi, I felt a lot of very positive areas and obviously there are some weaknesses that we are working on,” Ocon continued.
With pre-season testing on the horizon, February 26-28 in Bahrain, Ocon is confident that Haas’s wind tunnel findings will align with on-track performance.
“I think by day three we are going to be able to give a sensible picture, hopefully, of where everyone is,” he added.
“You always doubt, you’re never 100% sure, but I reckon it’s going to be a little bit more clear from then.
“We know where our performance should be, which is a good thing.
“We still need to validate it from the sim and check the numbers that we put in the sim were correct.
“That’s always the unknown but I have good confidence that they could be right and if they are right it should be an interesting season.
“It’s going to be close between everyone, so let’s see.”
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