Qualifying left a bad taste in the mouth for the entire Haas team. Ocon narrowly missed out on Q3 with a solid 12th place finish while Ollie Bearman was eliminated in the first round due to a gearbox issue that prevented him from showing the car's true potential.
Ocon was the one who lifted the team's spirits at Suzuka. The Frenchman set a time of 1:30.309 in Q2 that left him just a few tenths away from getting into the fight for the top positions. It was a solid lap according to the driver himself, who highlighted that it had been a while since he felt he had extracted the maximum from the car in qualifying. 12th on the grid isn't a bad starting point for a team that has been showing good race pace in the early rounds.
On the other side, the story was very different: Bearman suffered a gearbox issue during his first fast lap in Q1 that made him lose time on the straights, and when he tried on his second attempt he couldn't find the rhythm needed to advance. The Briton's explanation was that he needed to understand whether the problem was still affecting the car or if it was just an isolated issue, but the reality is he was eliminated with the 18th fastest time and will have to fight from the back on Sunday.
Ayao Komatsu analyzed the situation with a tone that mixed frustration and optimism. The Haas team principal acknowledged it was a disappointing qualifying because they should have had both cars in Q2 for sure. He said they definitely left performance on the table with Bearman in the first round and that bothered him, but he also highlighted that with Ocon they achieved the maximum they could extract in Q2.
What gives the team confidence is the race pace they showwed in Friday practice. Both Ocon and Bearman completed long runs with promising results that fuel the hope of being able to climb positions in a race where tire management and strategy will be key. Komatsu knows that from 12th they can fight for points, but even from 18th he believes anything can happen because overtaking will be numerous under the new regulations.
Bearman, for his part, was optimistic despite the setback. He said if this had happened to him a year ago he would have been much less confident, but now he knows there are opportunities to recover. The Briton trusts that Sunday's race will give him the chance to make up ground and score important points for the team.
Haas closed out Saturday with mixed feelings. On one hand, satisfaction from seeing Ocon so close to Q3, and on the other, frustration over a mechanical issue that cost Bearman dearly. Now the focus is on the race, where the team hopes their strong long run pace will allow them to make up for a qualifying that left them wanting more.