Esteban Ocon has praised his Haas engineering team – led by Laura Mueller – saying they ideally match his own personality as he settles into life with a new Formula 1 team.
The Frenchman joined the American squad after five seasons with Alpine – formerly Renault – this year, partnering British hotshot rookie Oliver Bearman.
Haas has enjoyed a reasonable start to the campaign, turning things around after a horror show opening round in Australia.
Ocon took fifth place in China, with Bearman also in the points, and an eighth place in Bahrain sees him currently on 14 points, leaving him ninth in the Drivers’ Championship.
It appears that much of Ocon’s integration into the team has stemmed from the relationship he is enjoying with his engineers, led by Mueller.
The German is the first full-time female race engineer in F1 history, and Ocon told media including Motorsport Week after the Miami Grand Prix, in which he finished 12th, how she and his other engineers are helping him amid the tight scheduling of the season so far.
“Ideally, you would have one race one week off, then another race to be able to process everything you do, but that’s how Formula 1 is at the moment,” he said.
“We’ve been working super well with Laura, with Sacha as well, with my team and Mike. We are [a] crew, 31, on the engineering side, the mechanics are also a huge part of it.
“Altogether, we’ve been learning from each other, knowing what to improve from race to race. As I’ve said in many interviews, it’s been awesome to see how much effort they put in, how motivated they are.
“They suit well with my personality, which is great. It’s also why the team has put Laura, Sacha and Mike into my side as well, because we match super well in terms of personality.”
Is Haas environment the tonic Ocon needs?
It seemed that when at Alpine, Esteban Ocon seemed to have much of the team geared around him.
A charismatic Frenchman in a French team, Ocon was in an ideal place, but the dynamic appeared to be altered when he was given a new team-mate.
Pierre Gasly arrived from AlphaTauri, and it seemed all was not well. The pair clashed in Australia two years ago, and then again in Monaco last year.
It might be fair to say Ocon did not convey happiness from then on, and it signalled his exit from the team.
Now it seems that Ocon is more than content with his new surroundings, as he looks to help build on the team’s early progress.
READ MORE – Esteban Ocon: Haas team-mate Oliver Bearman ‘technically above’ any F1 rookie ever
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