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Haas’s strong form emboldens Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg, the German aiming high for upcoming races.
Haas left Silverstone in a strong position following the British Grand Prix. A competitive showing saw the American team pull clear of the lower midfield in the standings. It has moved to within six points of sixth-placed RB in the constructors’ championship.
The outfit was the fastest Ferrari-powered car in qualifying. To the paddock’s surprise, Nico Hulkenberg out-qualified both works Ferraris in a true David vs Goliath moment.
The race proved equally competitive for Hulkenberg, as the German ran comfortably in the points despite the inclement weather. Although Carlos Sainz finished ahead of the Haas by the chequered flag, Hulkenberg was just seven seconds behind. P6 netted the German a crucial eight points.
A bold target for the end of the year
Speaking to formula1.com after the race, Hulkenberg credited a recent update to the VF-24 as the secret behind his success: “[I’m] very happy,” a smiling Hulkenberg said afterwards. “Eight more points on the board, super valuable.
“But, more importantly, the performance…. the performance is there with this update, and that makes me very happy and optimistic looking into the remainder of the season.”
The German then set an ambitious target for the rest of the year. He has set his ambitions on catching Aston Martin for fifth in the championship. Haas is currently 41 points behind the British team:
“I think we’re definitely in the fight now for the fifth-fastest team, which is obviously very positive, and nobody really expected [that] a couple of weeks ago. So, yeah, very encouraging and very positive.”
“But really like a thriller to judge the grip level, not knowing what you get when you turn in. Around here with high-speed corners and the grip like this, it was Russian roulette in a way. But managed to stay clean and got back what we lost at the start so, yeah, well deserved.”
However, teammate Kevin Magnussen struggled to match Hulkenberg’s pace all weekend. Eliminated in Q1, the Dane endured a challenging race and pitted early for intermediate tyres, which proved to be the wrong decision.
Struggling for pace after his stop, he still finished in P12. Crucially, he was two places ahead of the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. Speaking after the race, Magnussen rued his decision to pit early and the knock-on effects for his race:
“I think we pitted one lap too early. I was sort of within range of [Alex] Albon and he stayed out another lap I think and opened the gap massively, and on top of that the pace wasn’t really that good on the soft there at the end.
“I just grained the tyre immediately and didn’t have a good stint. I think in all the mixed conditions on both inter and on the dry tyre in the wet-ish conditions, we were looking really good. So, yeah, just didn’t have what it took there at the end.”
“It’s great, I mean for Nico to score eight points again today is fantastic. That’s a really good couple of weekends for the team, so [it’s] opened the gap there to our competition and it’s super important.
“I wish I could have contributed a little bit, but I just didn’t have what it took there at the end.”
Feature Image Credit: Haas F1 Media/Simon Galloway / LAT Images
