Photo by Kym Illman/Getty Images
Heading into Friday, Haas believes points could be on offer in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Haas came away empty-handed in last weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, a disappointing result after Nico Hülkenberg advanced to Q3 and started the race in P10. But an opening-lap collision with Lance Stroll required Hülkenberg to immediately come in for a new front wing, sending him to the back of the grid as the season began.
But despite the collision, there were some bright signs for Haas. Hülkenberg was able to pick up a few spots over the course of the race, as did teammate Kevin Magnussen. Their race pace — along with the tire wear issues that hurt them throughout the 2023 campaign — seem to be improved from last year.
Now the team is hoping to turn that promise, into points in this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Speaking after the first two practice sessions both Hülkenberg and Magnussen, along with new Team Principal Ayao Komatsu, noted the different challenges that Jeddah Corniche Circuit provides, as well as the potential to leave Saudi Arabia having opened their account for the 2024 campaign.
“It’s very different to Bahrain – a different circuit, different sensation and feeling, but ultimately it’s still very quick here. I think from a running perspective it was fine, a day with no problems so that was good,” said Hülkenberg in the team’s post-practice recap. “The feeling in the car isn’t amazing, there’s room for improvement – especially over one lap – although I think we’re really close together in the midfield.
“Small things can make a big difference. It’s the normal learning process on the first day where we learn things and hopefully can put it all together tomorrow. Right now, I think it looks more challenging than seven days ago but you never know, there are very small margins.”
Magnussen was even more optimistic.
“I think we had a decent day – nothing spectacular on pace – but again the car seems okay on long runs, more so than low-fuel,” said Magnussen.
“We need to pick up the pace a little bit there, so hopefully we can do that but it’s very tight, so even finding two-tenths and you’re close to the top 10. It’s so close, I think we could get close to the top 10 with an amazing lap and we hook up the balance in the car,” added Magnussen. “We want to get a decent qualifying position, but the race is the important one so that’s still what we’re focusing on. It’s all to play for tomorrow.”
Komatsu noted that the circuit in Saudi Arabia poses a much different challenge than what the team saw the past two weeks in Bahrain, with pre-season testing and the Bahrain Grand Prix. Still, he is pleased with the team’s race pace, which bodes well for the race this weekend.
Provided they have a strong performance on Friday.
“In Saudi we have a different level of downforce and a different speed of corners, so we expected a different challenge,” said Komatsu. “Today went more or less as expected, I think we’ve got decent straight-line speed, we struggled a bit in the high-speed corners, but then the tires are working okay.
“As you can see the midfield is really tight so I think qualifying is going to be pretty challenging. We have to put everything together but with the temperature and everything else it’s not easy – it’s right on the edge – so that’s going to be challenging. The encouraging thing is Kevin’s high-fuel run was really good in FP2, so that’s a good baseline. I think if we can qualify in a decent position, we’ve got good race pace.”
