Haas’ strong performance at the home race continues: After seventh and eighth places for Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg in the sprint, the Dane also underlined the good form of the US racing team in Austin in ninth place in qualifying.
On the other hand, teammate Hülkenberg was frustrated because two brakes in turn one in the second qualifying segment cost him his place in the next round – at the start of the sprint, Hülkenberg lost positions at exactly this point: “The car felt okay, but unfortunately it was “My two laps in Q2 weren’t great, they weren’t clean, and both times I was caught cold in turn one,” reports the German after qualifying.
“Both laps in Q2 were not completed, wheel locked both times, inner front tire,” describes Hülkenberg Sky his difficulties: “I don’t know, it felt strange and I lost a lot of time.” The Haas driver calculates at least four tenths: “Otherwise it would have been easy-peasy, but unfortunately that’s how it is, when mistakes creep in, then you bleed.”
Hülkenberg: “Didn’t get it on track”
The 37-year-old first has to go into a detailed analysis to find out exactly what the problem was: “I have to look at it, it happened on more than one lap. As a result, I lost my rhythm and confidence, that was annoying – and Bad timing, of course.”
Problem area curve one: Hülkenberg struggled with it all day long
Foto: Motorsport Images
The conclusion to qualifying was “not very positive,” says Hülkenberg Hello TV: “I think it’s good and promising in terms of speed. But unfortunately I had a problem with the implementation today, I couldn’t get it on the track, especially in turn one,” which the Haas driver sees as his “problem point”.
“The rest was, I think, very good in terms of the sector times. But unfortunately I had already lost too much and then unfortunately I narrowly missed out at the end.” For Hülkenberg it is clear: “Actually, I could have or should have been there in Q3, whatever, and I think we would have had a good chance of P8, P9, somewhere behind the top cars.”
Haas with potential: “We don’t have to hide”
The Haas driver is only seven hundredths short of qualifying for the next round in Q2, but despite finishing twelfth he remains confident for the race: “We don’t have to hide,” believes Hülkenberg, and is convinced that Haas will be there again on Sunday. “will be competitive”: “The potential is there.”
The Emmericher bases this primarily on the fact that “we’ve just shown good pace so far this weekend. You saw that this morning and I think there’s no reason why we can’t repeat that tomorrow. We’re fast , as far as the midfield is concerned.” Hülkenberg is aware of what is important for him and his men on Sunday:
Starting position twelfth: In the race, Hülkenberg has something to gain from Haas’ pace
Foto: Motorsport Images
“We just have to implement it properly tomorrow. Strategy and tires will of course play an important role tomorrow, as always, and we just have to be on the right side of that.” The veteran doesn’t want to make a final assessment of where Haas stands with the latest updates to his car on day two in Austin:
“It’s still early. Kevin was on the road this morning without the upgrades, and also strong – so I think our package is generally performing quite well here,” says Hülkenberg: “It’s not a step like in Silverstone, here “It’s a lot less what we have. But after this weekend we have more time to analyze everything and hopefully we can learn from it and extract even more.”
