The 2024 F1 season is finally approaching its final curtain.
The final six-race weekend of the 2024 season begins next week with the United States Grand Prix, and the battle for position is fierce. In the drivers' championship, Max Verstappen holds a 52-point lead over Lando Norris, while Charles Leclerc has an 86-point lead over Verstappen.
The situation is even more attractive in the constructors' championship, with McLaren currently leading Red Bull by 41 points, with Ferrari in third place, just 34 points behind Red Bull.
These aren't the only battles that will take place over the final six-race weekend of the 2024 F1 season. The battle for sixth place is also an intriguing battle, with the Visa Cash App RB F1 team holding a slim three-point lead over Haas.
However, Haas has scored points in three consecutive races, and team principal Ayao Komatsu is looking forward to a battle with VCARB in the midfield.
“We've now won points for three races in a row, which I think is pretty impressive when you look back at the consistency,” Komatsu said in his monthly update for Haas fans. “If you look back at the previous seasons, we didn't score a lot in the second half of the year. This season, out of 18 races, we scored points in half of the races. There were three bad events: Monaco, Hungary. , Spa, and Bahrain we finished 12th. Everywhere else we finished 11th, which is incredible because it's not just luck, it's something we've been consistently improving on. That's incredibly reassuring.”
Komatsu praised Nico Hulkenberg's ninth place at the Singapore Grand Prix and the veteran driver's performance after starting sixth in qualifying that weekend.
Nico's sixth place in qualifying was the result of a very good response from everyone from FP1, and from then on we were able to deliver a near-perfect qualifying session operationally,” said Komatsu. spoke. “It was great for Nico to score twice. But it's not just the result. It's how we achieved it and how well we worked as a team to achieve it. .”
Komatsu also praised young Oliver Bearman, who replaced Kevin Magnussen when he served a one-race penalty at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Bearman, who will drive full-time for Haas next season, finished 10th in Baku.
“Ollie was calm and coped well with everything, especially when the yellow flag came out during the critical period of the first qualifying session,” Komatsu said. “He was blaming himself for not making it to Q3 because he didn't have a perfect lap, but it was still a good result.
“In the race, in the first stint he was a little too conservative. But in the second stint he matched Nico and won the points. This is very impressive and shows his potential. There is.”
After all, Haas enter the season finale just three points behind VCARB. As the only American team on the grid, we are looking forward to our two home races starting next week with the United States Grand Prix in Austin.
“The next race on the calendar is the United States Grand Prix, a special race for the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team. Being an American F1 team carries great expectations and racing at home is always different. I can feel it,” Komatsu said. “Circuit of the Americas feels like America's race for die-hard F1 fans. Our partnership with title sponsor MoneyGram, also based in Texas, means we'll be packed with activities and events. It's going to be a busy week. I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would…”
“As we have already said, we will have another update in Austin, but more details will be announced during race week, along with a few other surprises. After all, without a new look, the U.S. It can’t be called a race, can it?”
Afterwards, the Haas manager said his team was just three points behind VCARB and was “focused” on the fight.
“My philosophy is that you can never look back. You can't move forward if you only look backwards. The battle in the middle is very close with very close margins, but we are always aiming to improve. ” Komatsu said. “We are focused on the three points needed for RB to achieve sixth place in the Constructors' Championship.”
SB Nation is scheduled to compete in next week's United States Grand Prix, so stay tuned for more information from Circuit of the Americas.
