F1 | Haas celebrates: double top 10 with Hulkenberg protagonist

Twelve points, best result of the season and a good dose of confidence for the next appointments. The Austrian weekend of Haas and one to remember, curiously on a track where in the past it had already collected some of its most important satisfactions, even with the previous generation of single-seaters.

This is not a result that fell from the sky, both because very positive indications had already been seen in Barcelona, ​​and because already in the sprint at the Red Bull Ring on Saturday Kevin Magnussen had managed to score an excellent ninth place which, although it had not guaranteed points, on the other hand had conveyed confidence in view of the race.

Feelings and expectations were then confirmed by the Q3 achieved by Nico Hulkenberg on Saturday afternoon following a change of set-up, given that the setup chosen before the reopening of the parc fermé had not actually convinced him, pushing him to aim in another direction. The German driver was thus able to give a clear turn to his weekend, getting back on track for a good result.

However, beyond the personal improvements, the VF-24 still had some excellent strengths to leverage to do well in Austria, starting from the good top speeds on the straights, as well as the competitiveness in the slow corners and in the traction phase. These two elements proved to be fundamental in order to respond to a more competitive Alpine in the very fast sections, where Haas knew at the beginning of the year it was having some more difficulties.

The updates brought between China and Imola, however, seem to have helped the car take a step forward in that aspect, so much so that even in Barcelona, ​​a track where the high-speed sections have a greater influence, the pace was not that far from that of the French rivals, capable of finishing in the top ten. “In Barcelona, ​​​​even if we didn’t get points, our pace was actually good, only five teams are faster than us, each of them finished the race, so we finished eleventh. But if you look at our pace, it was good. So already Barcelona was the confirmation that what we have done this year, that we are improving the performance of the car”, explained Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal of the American team.

For this reason there was cautious optimism in view of Austria, with the hope that the encouraging result in Barcelona would represent the basis for a good result also at the Red Bull Ring, perhaps taking advantage of the difficulties of Racing Bulls, still looking for answers on the new aerodynamic package. The sprint had already given some indications, but it is in the race that the greatest satisfactions arrived, also with good choices from a strategic point of view.

Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-24, Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

In the first part of the race, Hulkenberg did not hide the fact that with a full load in an attempt to keep Ocon behind, he had struggled in terms of tyre consumption, so much so that he had underlined that the first stop would probably come even earlier than planned. However, it was not Haas who started the carousel of pit stops, but Racing Bulls who, given the situation and the train that had formed behind Hulkenberg, attempted the undercut card, stopping Daniel Ricciardo. The American team read the scenario perfectly and, assuming that the Australian would return to the pits, immediately called the driver who was most at risk of suffering the undercut, namely Magnussen, to the pits.

“We were under pressure from Ricciardo, we knew he was going to stop, so we had to stop on the same lap, otherwise Ricciardo would have undercut us. But we could have managed the communications with the drivers better,” explained Komatsu, highlighting the duel after the first pit stop between Hulkenberg and Magnussen, with the Dane who in fact, having priority for the stop given the situation, in turn undercut his teammate, who returned to the pits only later.

“Basically, Kevin was undercutting his teammate. We could have solved the position issue later, but at that point the important thing was not to burn the tyres, because that is the worst thing. When I saw the lock-up in turn three, it was not a good thing.”

The decision to anticipate the pit stops, especially considering that Ocon stopped later, benefited Haas, which was able to place both cars at the head of the midfield teams. Only Sergio Perez, on a different strategy (albeit with sidewall damage), had an easy time of it on the VF-24s, overtaking them in less than five laps on fresher tyres. In the twelve laps in which the Mexican was able to run in clear air before the two Haas cars came in for their second pit stop, the Mexican was able to put about 10 seconds ahead of Hulkenberg.

Nico Hulkenberg, Haas VF-24, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

At that point the roads divided again: the two Haas cars brought forward the second pit stop again to fit another set of hard tyres with which to complete the remaining 30 laps and get to the checkered flag. On the other side, on the contrary, Red Bull decided to extend the second stint as much as possible, going as far as to complete 30 laps on the hard. The choice to postpone the pit stop meant that Perez found himself behind the VF-24s again at the second and final pit stop: while passing Magnussen was not that complicated, the manoeuvre on Hulkenberg was much more complex.

The German, despite a gap not only in tire life, but also in compound, given that he was riding a set of hard tires against the mediums of the Guadalajara driver, managed to protect a crucial sixth position until the checkered flag. The decision to play it smart during the last lap was fundamental, when he managed to prepare the exit from turn three in an excellent manner: from the telemetry it is in fact possible to note that Hulkenberg left the accelerator well in advance, in order to best reason the traction phase in the extension of turn 4, completing the counter-overtaking thanks also to the DRS.

“The duel with Perez? We saw it also during the sprint, Kevin’s pace up to a certain point in the short race was very similar to Perez’s. So we knew we shouldn’t have let him pass. Did I think we could keep him behind until the end? No, but it was certainly worth the fight. Nico did an extraordinary job!”, added Komatsu, underlining the excellent work done by Hulkenberg.

The twelve points won by Haas have brought it back to dream of sixth place in the constructors’ championship but, above all, have allowed it to open a significant gap of ten points on Alpine, the real great rival for seventh place in the standings. After a negative start to the season, the French team is growing, so the result in Austria could play a key role at the end of the season. In addition, new updates should arrive at Silverstone, as announced in recent weeks by the team, which should help to make a step forward also in the medium-speed corners.