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Nico Hulkenberg has revealed Haas’s plan to upgrade the VF-24 as the German aims to continue his run of point-scoring finishes.
Nico Hulkenberg battles the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in Miami (Image Credit: @HaasF1Team on X)Haas and Nico Hulkenberg have started 2024 on a high, marking a stark contrast from their performance last year. After a season with no points in 2023, the team has surged to P7 in the standings with seven points. Haas is now six points ahead of Alpine, with Williams and Sauber yet to score.
Hulkenberg has scored six of the team’s seven points, his latest coming in the Miami sprint. Qualifying a competitive P10, he moved up the order to claim P7, highlighting the speed in VF-24. Although missing out on points in Sunday’s race, he still came home a strong P11.
Not resting on its laurels
Speaking to formula1.com, Hulkenberg rued a missed chance of points. He conceded he and the team extracted the maximum from the car, admitting the Safety Car revitalised his race:
A good weekend… obviously it would have been the icing on the cake to get another points finish today.
“Unfortunately, the first half of the race, the first stint and then the first part of the second stint, we weren’t strong enough when there was still a lot of fuel in the car. I was struggling for grip and then balance, and we weren’t quick enough in that part of the race.
“The VSC wasn’t great but then the Safety Car later, we swapped to a two-stop and that kind of put us back on the map, some good racing afterwards. I actually enjoyed the race, I don’t think we could have done anything different or better, so that’s where we were.”
The German confirmed his belief in momentum building at the American team, as it continues to push further up the midfield, adding: “There’s definitely some, for sure.
Haas is not taking its new-found midfield competitiveness for granted. With momentum building, Hulkenberg revealed the team plans to bring upgrades for the VF-24 to Imola. The upgrades, Hulkenberg says, will complete the work started on the car earlier in the season:
“In Imola, we’re going to get some more upgrades to complete that kind of package that we were building since Shanghai, so hopefully those can edge us a little bit ahead again and put us a little bit closer to the RBs, because they look really strong at the moment.”
Teammate Kevin Magnussen meanwhile continues to endure a torrid start to 2024. Racking up a series of penalties across the weekend, his crash with Logan Sargeant’s Williams saw him plummet to the back of the field, finishing P18.
The Dane now has ten penalty points as a result of his difficult Miami weekend, putting him in danger of a race ban, should he accumulate just two more.
Summarising his eventful Sunday, Magnussen said: “Not a good day, again. Hopefully I can get some clarity on things going forward. What happened today is, of course, not good. Nonetheless, we move on and try to have a better weekend next weekend.”
Feature Image Credit:@HulkHulkenberg on X