Ocon handed older Ferrari engine at Monza as Haas saves upgrade for Bearman

Esteban Ocon will line up at Monza without Ferrari’s latest ADUO2 power unit after Haas confirmed its only available upgraded engine will go to team-mate Oliver Bearman for the Italian Grand Prix.

The American outfit arrives at the high-speed Lombardy circuit with a brand-new aerodynamic package fitted to both cars, as announced by team principal Ayao Komatsu. On the engine front, however, Ferrari has supplied just one upgraded unit following its second ADUO evaluation at Monza, leaving Ocon to run the older specification.

“I’m not going to have the full updated package,” Ocon said. “I have the car on the aero side. I will not have the ADUO2 — we have only one, that’s the reason. So I’m going to be driving with the old engine. That’s going to be quite some loss. But the updated car, I will have it. So we’ll see what we get.”

Despite regulations requiring engine manufacturers to supply customer teams with same-specification power units, the FIA has no issue with the arrangement. Motorsport.com understands the governing body considers the rule satisfied as long as at least one such engine is made available to the team.

Ocon is nonetheless eager to assess the aerodynamic gains on track. He tested the revised VF-26 in the simulator on Tuesday and came away encouraged, though he cautioned that Monza’s low-downforce layout may not show the package’s full potential.

“I’m excited to drive this new car,” he said. “It felt better in the simulator. Of course, we need to translate it to the track — it’s not always a given. It’s not the most technical circuit for it, so we’re not going to see the full gain. We’ll see more of that in Madrid. But it will still be interesting to see how the car feels in the Lesmos and Parabolica compared to before.”

Haas has endured a difficult mid-season stretch, failing to score a single point since the Monaco Grand Prix as rival teams accelerated their development programmes. Ocon believes the new package could restore the team’s ability to fight in the points.

“We started the year well in terms of pace, and the others developed a bit faster than us,” he said. “Hopefully this will deliver what we hope and put us closer to the top 10 positions so we can fight with the VCARBs and the Alpines again.”

On a personal note, the Frenchman feels he has extracted the maximum from an underpowered car over recent weekends, even if the results have not reflected that effort.