{"id":246383,"date":"2026-01-19T15:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T15:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/246383\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T15:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T15:30:07","slug":"esteban-ocon-thinks-haas-can-be-dangerous-in-2026-as-ollie-bearman-points-to-big-factor-for-all-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/246383\/","title":{"rendered":"Esteban Ocon thinks Haas can be \u2018dangerous\u2019 in 2026 as Ollie Bearman points to \u2018big factor\u2019 for all teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Esteban Ocon has shared a bullish pre-season outlook for Haas, believing that they have the potential \u201cto be fighting towards the front\u201d under F1\u2019s new regulations \u2013 and could therefore be a \u201cdangerous\u201d force.<\/p>\n

Haas, who enter the 2026 campaign with increased support from Japanese automotive giants Toyota, became the latest team to present their new livery on Monday, having released digital renders<\/a> via social media.<\/p>\n

Ayao Komatsu<\/a>\u2019s squad are looking to take the next step after going from the foot of the Teams\u2019 Championship in 2023 to much more respectable P7 and P8 finishes over the first two years of his tenure as Team Principal.<\/p>\n

Asked for the stand-out feelings ahead of the new season, which marks his second at Haas, Ocon<\/a> said: \u201cI\u2019m excited about this year. This team is really growing, and this team is learning a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince I arrived, there have been a lot of great things that have happened. We\u2019re growing the team and welcoming more partners, and it\u2019s very serious how we\u2019re going racing into this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really hope, and I trust that this team will give us a great tool to be fighting towards the front, and towards the points. And if that\u2019s the case, I think for sure we will be dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for just how big the 2026 regulations reset is for Haas and the rest of the F1 field to digest, the Frenchman added: \u201cThis is definitely the biggest rule change I\u2019ve ever faced.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time I drove a Formula 1 car was in the V8 era, then we went to a hybrid system, where I drove one day in Valencia back then and went to Abu Dhabi for FP1. It was probably a similar change to what we\u2019ll face now, but we need to forget everything that has happened before.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to learn everything new again, so I think the experience helps to adapt quickly, but we need to adapt everything. All of our senses, how we feel, we\u2019ll need to think a lot more while driving about what to do, to go quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ocon\u2019s team mate, Ollie Bearman<\/a>, is similarly eager to get started and find out how Haas compare to the competition \u2013 while stressing how important it will be to make the most of any early-season opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s impossible to gauge where we\u2019re going to be right now,\u201d he said. \u201cEverything I\u2019m seeing from the team is positive, but we don\u2019t know how we stack up, and we won\u2019t know until Qualifying in Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven then, I feel like in the first few races reliability is going to be playing a big factor. There are going to be teams and people making mistakes with these new regulations. It\u2019s going to be tough to establish a true pecking order.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of how he is dealing with a technical overhaul just one year into his full F1 career, the Briton commented: \u201cI\u2019m heading into a regulation change for the first time in my life, really.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year was a big step for me, but I think even from the beginning, we knew that if we put the car in the right window, we were still going to be able to fight for points, and we had an idea of the competitiveness of the car.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat lack of knowledge heading into 2026 is good and bad, as on one side I feel like we can really have an impact straight away, but also it\u2019s horrible not knowing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to skip forward six months to see where we are, but I\u2019m going to be giving it everything to make sure that where we are is as high up as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Esteban Ocon has shared a bullish pre-season outlook for Haas, believing that they have the potential \u201cto be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-246383","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}