F1 | Haas in points: Hulkenberg super, the new package convinces

Another weekend, another point that ends up in Haas's pocket. Even in China, the US team was able to capitalize on a good opportunity to finish in the top ten, achieving their third points finish of the season.

A point which, although it may seem minimal, could make the difference in the midfield battle at the end of the championship, especially considering that the first five top teams leave very little to their opponents, especially if there are no particular twists.

Precisely for this reason the consistency of Hulkenberg and Haas are two key elements in the chase for sixth or seventh place in the constructors' championship. Haas brought the first evolutions of its VF-24 to China, with a revised floor which, at least on paper, seems to have concretely helped the team in the fight for the points zone in China, especially in Sunday's race.

In the sprint, with only eight total positions guaranteeing points, thinking of returning home with something useful and valid for the ranking was rather unrealistic. In fact, Kevin Magnussen finished in tenth position, also taking advantage of Fernando Alonso's retirement at the end, while Nico Hulkenberg did not go beyond nineteenth position, thanks to some setup problems which pushed him after the sprint to completely reverse the set-up, effectively taking a step back towards a largely different configuration.

Compared to Suzuka, Shanghai has fewer high-speed sections, which is why there was a little more confidence for Haas, as admitted by the Team Principal: “I expected us to do slightly better than Suzuka. But knowing that we could also score points in Suzuka, we hoped to be able to do so here too”, explained Ayao Komatsu when interviewed by Motorsport.com after the race, underlining how, had it not been for a problem at the start, the German driver had also he would have fought for the top ten.

“However, once we got out on track, we realized that some aspects of the cornering characteristics here in China expose another weakness of our car. But then, to be honest, I think that, if you look at Nico's performances, in the sprint and then at our performances in qualifying and in the race today, we have turned the tide.”

“So it was another good sign: ok, we made a misstep in the sprint, but we managed to correct it for qualifying and the race. And then today, honestly, everything, the race execution, the decision making, at least with Nico was perfect. So yes, we couldn't have done anything more.”

Nico Hulkenberg, Haas VF-24 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Hulkenberg's race was already built on Saturday, with that excellent performance in qualifying which led him to even reach Q3, also placing himself ahead of Valtteri Bottas. Haas's race would focus mainly around the Sauber Finn and Ricciardo's Racing Bulls, as well as containing the possible comebacks of Stroll and Hamilton, but perfect execution was needed.

Already at the start the German was briefly able to overtake the two Ferraris fighting each other; However, even more importantly, he had managed to stay ahead of his closest rivals, with the exception of Stroll, who had started on the soft to find more inspiration when the traffic lights went out. The first stint was actually not exceptional on the medium tyre, so much so that Hulkenberg was also one of the first to stop, immediately finding a more consistent balance on the harder compound available in China. The choice to stop so early, however, was also due to another element, namely the overtaking suffered by Bottas during the seventh lap: at that point the Haas engineers immediately called the German back to the pits, completing an undercut which allowed him to get back to the front.

The introduction of the Safety Car due to the engine problem suffered by the Finn simplified Haas's race, removing a possible rival in the chase for the top ten, but also forced several drivers to align themselves on the same strategy. From this point of view it is interesting to observe those who followed a reverse path, like Ricciardo, who remained on the track on a medium set that would never have taken him to the checkered flag, forcing him to stop again.

Therefore, although Ricciardo did not represent a concrete threat given that he would have had to make an extra stop, in some way the Australian still played a key role, because involuntarily the collision suffered by Stroll at the restart put both the Racing Bulls driver than the Canadian's Aston Martin. At that point for Hulkenberg it was just a matter of managing the rest of the race until the checkered flag, despite having to give way to a Lewis Hamilton coming back with a more competitive car.

Haas VF-24 Technical Detail

Picture of: Giorgio Piola

At the end of the GP, Komatsu underlined the importance of having brought part of the technical innovations already to China, although the team did not even have the opportunity to carry out a back-to-back comparison between the old and the new package, as per practice. A practice that he won't even be able to try in Miami, given that there will be the sprint once again, but which will only be carried out in Imola.

“I'm not here to say that the update worked perfectly or that I'm 100% convinced. But since we already said that it's a sprint weekend, we can't do a real back to back or anything. But we can measure something in FP1. It's not a real comparison, but just a way to see if there's something obviously wrong or not and we haven't noticed anything to that effect.”

“So we think it works. Until it's proven that it doesn't work, I trust it. That's why today we decided to update both cars. Because the situation is very complex. If we don't trust our development process, what's the point? But when we go to Imola we will do a real back to back. In short, we will evaluate whether we did everything right or not.”

“It was certainly fundamental for us to score points. We know that the gaps are very small. This is the message. So yes, exactly. I agree 100% [senza novità non saremmo andati a punti]”.