Esteban Ocon raises early concerns over new F1 era

Esteban Ocon has raised early concerns over the new F1 cars, suggesting overtaking may be more difficult than anticipated.

The F1 cars are going through a major change this year, with the aerodynamic and power unit rules getting a significant overhaul.

Ocon took the Haas car out onto the track for the first time at the Barcelona shakedown last week, as the VF26 tallied almost 400 laps across three days.

The Frenchman used the test to experiment with the new car, including the new overtake mode, which offers a boost in energy when within one second of the car ahead.

Offering his initial assessment, Ocon told media including RacingNews365: “I've been following a few cars - you seem to lose quite a lot of front load, a bit more. We need to see. 

“The overtake, yes, I played with it. I don't want to give too early conclusions on how it's going to be because obviously it needs to be adjusted, optimised, etc., for that to work in a perfect way. 

“But so far, it looks to be difficult to pass. That's my first thought about it, but I hope it's going to get on the easier side.”

Ocon questions new active aerodynamics system

Ocon also raised questions over the new active aerodynamics systems that have been introduced in F1 this year.

As part of the regulation overhaul, the front and rear wing elements change their angle of attack when on the straights to reduce drag.

They then change shape when a drive enters a corner to offer extra downforce.

However, Ocon stated the movable wings can be compared to the Drag Reduction System (DRS) that was scrapped for 2026.

“The active aero, to be honest, I'm a little bit disappointed with that because it's just DRS with the front.

“We are using it all the time, so it's more of an efficiency thing than really something that's giving us much more tools to play with and stuff like that. 

“Of course, we have little tweaks that we can do, but I would have preferred that we could set the front flap as we want for every corner before we were driving. 

“That's what I call active aero. The Pagani Huayra some years ago had active aero on the front, and it was setting it up for whatever corners you were taking and what you were needing in terms of balance. 

“That's what I call active aero more than DRS, which we have in the front. It's cool, but I think we could use it to another extent.”

When the matter was raised once again with Ocon by RacingNews365, the Frenchman backtracked and admitted his words were “a bit extreme”. 

He added: “Let's say I'm not disappointed, but I think we could have used it in a better way.”