Haas finished empty-handed at last weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, a disappointing result after Nico Hulkenberg advanced to Q3 and started the race from 10th. However, a collision with Lance Stroll on the opening lap meant that Hulkenberg soon had to have a new front wing replaced, relegating him to the back of the grid as the season began.
But despite the clashes, there were some bright spots for Haas. Hulkenberg was able to gain several positions during the race, as was his teammate Kevin Magnussen. Their race pace appears to have improved from last year, along with the tire wear issues that plagued them throughout the 2023 campaign.
The team now hopes to translate that commitment into points at this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Speaking after the first two practice sessions, both Hulkenberg and Magnussen, along with new team principal Ayao Komatsu, discussed the various challenges the Jeddah Corniche circuit poses and their accounts for the 2024 campaign. He mentioned the possibility of leaving Saudi Arabia, where he opened the company.
“It’s very different to Bahrain, the circuit is different, the feeling is different, but at the end of the day it’s still very fast here. From a running point of view, I’m glad that we had no problems,” said Hulkenberg of his team. He said this in his post-practice summary. “The feeling of the car is not amazing and there is room for improvement, especially over the lap, but I think in the middle we are pretty close.”
“Small things can make a big difference. The normal learning process is to learn things on the first day and be able to put it together tomorrow. I think it’s more challenging now than it was seven days ago, but it makes a difference. is so small that it cannot be seen.”
Magnussen was even more optimistic.
“I think it was a decent day, nothing really outstanding pace-wise, but again the car seems to be OK for long distances rather than being low on fuel,” Magnussen said.
“I need to pick up the pace a little bit there so I hope I can do that, but it’s very tough so just finding two-tenths is enough to get me close to the top 10. It’s so close that I hope I can get close.” “I had a great lap and was able to finish in the top 10, and the balance of the car was also good,” added Magnussen. “I want to get a decent place in qualifying, but the race is important, so that’s what I’m focusing on. Everything is about playing tomorrow.”
Komatsu pointed out that the Saudi Arabian circuit presents a vastly different challenge than the team has seen in Bahrain over the past two weeks during pre-season testing and the Bahrain Grand Prix. Still, he is happy with the team’s race pace, which bodes well for this weekend’s races.
Hopefully he can perform well on Friday.
“We expected a different challenge in Saudi because there are different levels of downforce and different corner speeds,” Komatsu said. “Today went about as expected. I think my straight-line speed is pretty good. I struggled a little bit in the high-speed corners, but the tires are working fine.
“As you can see, the midfield is very tight, so I think qualifying will be quite difficult. We have to put everything together and it’s not easy, considering the temperature and everything else, because it’s right on the brink. It’s going to be difficult. The reassuring thing is that Kevin’s high fuel run in FP2 was very good, so this is a good baseline. If we can qualify in a decent position, we’ll have good race pace. I think you can.”
