Esteban Ocon frustrated after his Baku Q2 exit: ‘I don’t deserve all this shit’

Esteban Ocon voiced his frustration after his Q2 exit in Baku, saying he does not “deserve all this shit” that has been piling up on his side. The Haas driver blamed yellow flags for missing out on Q3 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, during what he considers a particularly difficult 2026 season.

According to Ocon, inconsistent performance from certain parts on his car has affected him in 10 of the 15 rounds held so far, an issue acknowledged by the American team. He said that problem had not occurred this weekend in Baku, where Arvid Lindblad’s two off-track incidents brought out yellow flags in Q2.

“We were on for a Q3 lap, the car was working well,” Ocon said. “We don’t have many chances like this when the car is working well; it hasn’t been working throughout the whole season. We improved things, but we had a Q3 car today.”

The Frenchman explained that he had to lift on the exit of Turn 15 to avoid a penalty, without knowing which driver had gone off. He also referred to a gust of wind on the previous lap, while maintaining that he had also been on course for a Q3 time then. “I lost, what, three or four tenths with that?” he said.

“Unbelievable. I have no words. It’s a different race weekend, same shit,” Ocon continued, citing car issues, yellow flags and safety cars among the factors that have weighed on his weekends. Starting 14th, he set the target: “We need to fight in the top 10 tomorrow.” He added: “At the end of the day, yes, we were competitive, but we can’t get there. Never. It’s never happening.”

This could have been his first Q3 appearance of the season. Ocon instead finished 14th, 0.241 seconds behind his team-mate and 0.333 seconds from the cut-off time. Oliver Bearman took 11th, Haas’s best qualifying result since the Chinese Grand Prix. With Haas assessing several drivers for 2027, Ocon saw no reason for satisfaction in the VF-26’s improved pace.