Ocon: “It’s too early to define hierarchies. Mercedes very fast, but Ferrari well positioned”

F1 Shakedown, first impressions “Calm” is a word that team principals and drivers often say these days. All the protagonists of the Circus want to stay buttoned up, both to avoid making a fool of themselves and because it is actually difficult to draw up a valid hierarchy after only five days of shakedown, when one has the internal data and work programs available, without anything else official. Those obtained from Montmeló are only first impressions, but they all converge towards a Mercedes that has started the new regulatory cycle well. If not on the performance side, at least on reliability: the Brackley team worked for three days without a hitch, accumulating 500 laps, more than any other team. This was also confirmed by Esteban Ocon, who however saw a Ferrari nearby. Ocon’s words “As far as the hierarchy is concerned, it’s still early to talk about it, but we saw that Mercedes was very fast in this test. We saw that the Ferraris were also well positioned, that the Red Bulls were doing well and that the McLarens were also in the mix”, this was his comment after a shakedown which saw Haas clock up 391 laps (third best figure on the grid). “For now this is what Barcelona has told us. Behind there is a tight group, with us, Alpine and Racing Bulls, while Audi and Cadillac are a step behind for now. For now we think this is the case, but it’s a bit early to talk about it, we’ll have to see in Bahrain.” “We worked a lot in the simulator over the winter and I think this tool proved to be very effective. As far as the engine and development are concerned, everything we found in the simulator we also found in reality,” he added. “We need to slightly improve the correlation in terms of grip. The balance of the car seemed good from the start, and I think in this respect the car was born well, but we found a bit of instability in some places. However, I think it won’t take too long to fix it.”