Ocon: “In Barcelona I also did ‘lift and coast’ in the qualifying simulations”

What the French driver said Last week, teams and drivers were able to start discovering the 2026 F1 cars during the Barcelona Shakedown which recorded Lewis Hamilton’s best time at the wheel of Ferrari and in general an excellent state of form at least from a reliability point of view for almost all the teams that took part in this first winter testing session. Obviously we don’t know if and how hard the drivers pushed at Montmelò, but Haas driver Esteban Ocon revealed that at least as far as he was concerned he had to use the ‘Lift and coast’ technique (raising the accelerator before the braking point thus also not putting excessive stress on the brakes) even in the Qualifying simulations. “We have to drive using ‘Lift and coast’ also in Qualifying – said Ocon as reported by the German newspaper Auto Motor und Sport – at the beginning it seemed strange to us, but we had already prepared ourselves on the simulator. After one lap, I was already used to it. Now it seems strange not to do it. We use driving in ‘Lift and coast’ mode so often that you get used to it quickly. It’s not that bad, if I kept the accelerator at maximum all the way to the end of the acceleration then I would be forced to apply the brake hand in another straight. It even seems to go faster by lifting the throttle slightly earlier than necessary. But I still like it, and it’s still a Formula 1 car, if you find faster ones in other categories, it’s not a given that it will be like that on all the tracks.”