Komatsu calls Haas Friday reasonably successful but flags Ocon’s braking issue

Haas principal Ayao Komatsu described Friday in Austin as reasonably successful overall, but said the team still needed to understand Esteban Ocon’s difficulty under braking. Ollie Bearman, by contrast, was happy with the car from the outset and confident, Komatsu said.

Komatsu said it was probably the cleanest Friday of the season so far for Bearman’s side of the garage. Ocon said the track was bumpy and that he had struggled with front-wheel locking from the start of the day; he found the car difficult to attack corners in. Ocon also said Haas had changed a few parts since Singapore but still needed to work out where the problem came from. Bearman finished FP2 10th and Ocon 14th.

Komatsu said Ocon’s problem was not a major one, but Haas needed to get to the bottom of it. If Haas could do that, he believed Ocon could be up with Bearman. With competition tight, he said the team needed to fine-tune the car before Saturday’s FP3 and qualifying.