The first few hours of the 2024 F1 season are set in stone, and if the start of the year is any indication, it will be very similar to 2023.
At the end of the first day, it was Max Verstappen who was once again at the top of the timesheets, with the defending drivers’ champion pushing his RB20 to the top of the grid, over two seconds clear of Lando Norris. Of course, timing data has to be taken with a grain of salt, but it’s important to note that Verstappen’s time was more than a second faster than he was on this day last year.
“Eerie” was how commentators described it. F1TV As their interview drew to a close, they landed.
At the other end of the spectrum? Hearth. This year marks a year of change for the only American-based F1 team. Günther Steiner, the only team principal the team has ever known, was shockingly sacked ahead of the 2024 season. He will be replaced by Ayao Komatsu, who was promoted from his role as the team’s engineering director.
When the dust settled on the first day of testing, the Haas duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were at the back of the pack. Magnussen finished 17th, with Hulkenberg just behind him in 18th. (Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez did not drive on Wednesday as their teammates were assigned a full day of work).
Still, in the team’s post-practice debrief, Komatsu said it was a “decent” day for the team.
And he may be right.
“Overall I think it was a pretty decent day for the first day of pre-season testing. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a really decent start. We focused all day on long run tire management and really We were able to generate good data,” Komatsu said after Wednesday’s dual session.
“Both drivers ran some different strategies and we saw the results. We learned a lot as a team,” Komatsu added. “I think we managed to accomplish most of our goals for the day, which is good. We have another big goal for tomorrow and that is to know what we learned from today. A little more There are some things we need to improve operationally to be able to run well, but we logged 148 laps, so there’s a lot to build on for Thursday.”
Magnussen completed 66 laps in the morning session, while Hulkenberg completed 82 laps as the team focused on “longer stints”.
For Haas, the focus on tire management is key given the pre-season tire wear issues. Last year’s challenger, his VF-23, showed his one-lap pace at times astounding in 2023. Take the Canadian Grand Prix, for example. Thanks to Hulkenberg’s great efforts and good luck with the weather, he managed to place his VF-23 in the front row next to Verstappen.
Although Hulkenberg started fifth due to a grid penalty, he was able to get a glimpse of the VF-23’s potential for at least one lap in qualifying.
But Sunday was a completely different situation. As the lights went out, Hulkenberg limped back through the field, eventually finishing 15th. The main culprit? Tire wear.
“It’s pretty clear now. Obviously the result is not what we should have done and it’s very unfortunate. I think I know where to look, but the problem is if you go into traffic and you’re behind a car. As soon as you get there, it’s so degraded that you can’t get the performance of the tires back and you just go backwards. Steiner said at the time:. “As soon as we start fighting away from free air, we clearly see that we will only decline. We really know what we need to look for, and we will continue to look for it. We need to rack our brains and find a solution without hiding behind a good qualifying result.”
From a driver’s perspective, Wednesday was a solid day for Haas.
“It feels good. It’s always fun to get back in the car after winter, so it was a good morning physically. I think I had a pretty positive morning, focusing on the long run and really working on the tire issues I had last year. “I’m here,” Magnussen said. “That will be our main focus and we’re happy with the results we’ve seen this morning, but there’s obviously a lot of work to do, but we’re all keen to explore and learn about this new car.”
“Our afternoon was mainly a long drive on high fuel, and the aim was to learn about the car and try some things with the tires,” Hulkenberg added. “We know that was our weakness last year, so today we focused on that. Everything is going well and positive, there are no technical problems and we achieved everything with 82 laps. I did.”
Resolving tire wear issues was high on Haas’ pre-season to-do list. If Wednesday’s work brings us closer to solving that mystery, it will have been a truly fulfilling day for the team.
