Photo by Bryn Lennon – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
F1’s crown jewel is here, and Haas is ready for the challenge
Ask five different Formula 1 drivers their favorite circuit to drive, and you might get five different answers. But for Haas driver Kevin Magnussen the answer is clear.
Monaco.
“It’s the best track on the calendar to drive, it’s just phenomenal on these little tight streets with walls everywhere. The feeling of driving a Formula 1 car in Monaco, to me, is the best of the year,” said Magnussen in the team’s media preview of the Monaco Grand Prix.
Magnussen is still on the cusp of a one-race ban as he enters the Monaco Grand Prix with ten points on his Super License. Two more penalty points would see the driver sidelined for a race. His best finish in Monaco came in his rookie F1 season, back in 2014 with McLaren where he finished tenth. He matched that result three years later in his first season with Haas.
“We know there’s no overtaking in the race, so it does feel now with all these other races where overtaking is pretty good and racing is pretty good, that it is a bit of a weird one because there’s so little,” added Magnussen, making a little pitch to the powers that be in F1 to keep Monaco on the calendar. “Maybe there could be more qualifying sessions or a Sprint to throw a curveball. The Monaco Grand Prix is a part of the triple crown, it’s one of those races where if you win that, it’s extra special, and having driven around there it’s so special, so I hope it stays on the calendar.
“At other races, you’re doing laps to explore different techniques, you’ve found the limit quickly. In Monaco, you’re just getting closer and closer to the limit, and as it’s a track that’s really being used, it’s got so much track evolution,” added the Danish driver.
Teammate Nico Hülkenberg, who calls Monaco home these days, is also looking forward to the challenges Monaco provides.
“I’ve lived in Monaco since 2015, this will be my 11th Monaco Grand Prix, and I’ve watched the race many times growing up,” said Hülkenberg. “Monaco is iconic, it’s all about tradition; the palace, the hotels, and many places that still have a dress code to be able to get in. The history and the heritage there, everyone embraces and respects that, which I like.
“There’s always a bit more focus on qualifying here in Monaco. But it’s the same every weekend, from scratch you need to try to get a good feeling for the car, and the difficulty with qualifying in Monaco is that you really need to master the lap and put all three sectors together,” added Hülkenberg. “It’s a ride on a knife edge and challenging every year and one of my favorite tracks to drive, I look forward to the ride and the challenge.”
Hülkenberg, who has scored six of the team’s seven points this season, is headed to Sauber for 2025 ahead of that organization becoming the Audi works team for the 2026 F1 campaign.
Team Principal Ayao Komatsu, who will be making his Monaco Grand Prix debut as the boss at Haas, outlined how the team has been working towards getting the downforce right for this tricky circuit.
“I’m looking forward to Monaco because this year the team has worked pretty well in the wind tunnel to come up with the Monaco downforce level required, which is different from previous years,” said Komatsu. “In terms of consistency with the car, we seem to have better consistency, and obviously, in Monaco drivers need lots of confidence, they need to trust the car. One thing that remains to be seen is the balance of the car; in Monaco you can have too much understeer and then you won’t go quick, so that’s one of the issues with this year’s car, I think. We’re aware of it so we’ll try to get that balance right, and if we can do that, it might be a pretty interesting weekend.”
As Komatsu makes clear, qualifying is everything in Monaco given the layout of the circuit. Overtaking opportunities in the Monaco Grand Prix are rare, so points are often won on Saturday. That means you need to be on your game starting Friday morning.
“Monaco qualifying is everything, driver confidence is everything, track time is everything – so you really can’t be messing around with car set-up too much. It means the car you roll out with on Friday morning has to be right, then you just have to let the driver get as many laps in as possible; there’s more lap time in them than with tuning bits on the car,” described Komatsu.
“The challenge is you have to get car set-up right before you run, if you like. If you send the car out and car set-up is not right, you can’t spend 15 minutes in the garage to change the car because that 15 minutes is track time lost,” addd Komatsu. “Between runs, you should really be getting the driver to look at the data, see where they need to improve, and then get them out as soon as possible. The engineers’ challenge is more about start set-up having to be in the ballpark, and then once you’re running, just focus on giving drivers confidence.”
We’ll see if Magnussen and Hülkenberg have that confidence in just a few days.
