F1 | Haas on points: How Hulkenberg beat Perez again

City tracks have the advantage of letting riders stand out and Singapore is one of the most demanding tracks of the season, both from a physical and technical point of view. This year between the walls of Marina Bay the value and the difference in trust in the vehicle on the part of the drivers emerged clearly, as seen in the internal clash at McLaren or Red Bull, with Lando Norris and Max Verstappen as protagonists .

However, scrolling through the ranking, there are two other names who had an excellent weekend, shining under the spotlight of Singapore, namely Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg. The German managed to bring home other fundamental points for Haas, still in full battle for sixth place in the constructors’ championship against Racing Bulls, preceding Sergio Perez’s Red Bull in a battle until the last lap, exactly as had happened already this year in Austria, when Hulkenberg showed his claws defending sixth place like a lion.

In qualifying, the Haas driver established himself as the best in the mid-pack area, gaining an excellent sixth place on the starting grid, despite not being a car that this year has shone on tracks with very slow or high-load corners. From this point of view, the front wing that debuted a few events ago has allowed us to increase downforce and find a better balance between the front and rear. Realistically, however, it would have been difficult to keep the two Ferraris behind them even on Sunday, having encountered a difficult Q3 but with ideally sufficient pace to attempt a comeback among the three top teams.

After maintaining sixth place when the lights went out, Hulkenberg performed his job perfectly, keeping both Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc behind him, while the other pursuers, such as Franco Colapinto and Sergio Perez, gradually lost ground, finishing to have a gap of two and six seconds respectively from the Monegasque of Ferrari after around 30 laps.

In fact, Hulkenberg drove an entire race under pressure while constantly looking at the mirrors, with the only regret being that he lost position to the Aston Martin driver, who did well to take advantage of the British team’s early pit stop after 27 laps. An attempt which, however, had not actually been planned, because the idea would have been to continue further so as not to fall behind Pierre Gasly and Kevin Magnussen, with the latter having started on the hard tire: however, the overtaking suffered by part of Leclerc pushed Aston to change plans, recalling Alonso without having anything to lose.

By doing so, it is true that the Silverstone team had exposed themselves to a longer second stint, but they had also managed to make the undercut work. The Asturian was able to quickly overtake both Pierre Gasly and the Dane, thus finding himself in clean air, effectively making it impossible for Haas to respond to the undercut.

Nico Hulkenberg, Haas VF-24, Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Equally demanding, however, was also the second part of the race: Red Bull was one of the first to start the waltz of pit stops, calling Sergio Perez back to the pits. A move that gave the Mexican both the chance to complete the undercut on Colapinto and to get dangerously close to Hulkenberg, who came out just two seconds ahead of the Red Bull driver.

From that moment on, a defensive game was born again: the German got close to Alonso, but behind him Perez continued to apply pressure, entering the DRS area: “The whole game was actually a matter of looking in the mirrors trying to resist the pressure. Especially the second stint was a bit difficult with Checo”, said Hulkenberg, also because, when you stay in dirty air, the tires start to slip and overheat, but with all the interest on Alonso’s part in the keep the group compact.

“When we were behind Fernando, the dirty air affected me a lot, but at the same time I had Checo behind me. So, it wasn’t easy.” The same argument, however, also applied to Perez, who behind Hulkenberg struggled to find ideas to try the attack: in fact, as said on the radio by the German’s track engineer, the only points in which Perez managed to keeping the pace was thanks to what he gained on the straights with the DRS.

Nico Hulkenberg, Haas VF-24, Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images

Despite not being very long, with such full wings and 4 DRS zones, each lap Perez was able to gain several tenths and remain close to his Haas rival, losing time mainly in the central sector and in the last fast corner, more guided sections and where the negative effect of dirty air is most felt both when cornering and when traction. To give an idea, the DRS in the Mexican’s case was worth around 16 km/h of difference, although the fact that the Haas does not tend to have very great pure aerodynamic downforce on these tracks meant that even the top speeds of the VF -24 were competitive, partially offsetting the difference given by the mobile wing.

The interesting aspect is that, in the long second stint, Hulkenberg often complained about the brakes which, on a track like Singapore, can really make a difference. Here an exchange began in the American garage: if the team wanted to protect the fronts by avoiding micro-locks, suggesting several times to move the balance towards the rear, Hulkenberg followed his instincts based on what he felt in the first stint, where he had suffered the most from tire degradation at the rear. The fear was that, over long distances, tire degradation could further influence braking performance.

“Finally we were able to reward ourselves with some points. The weekend was positive, but that is a judgment that belongs to others. I am satisfied. In qualifying I laid the foundations. In the race I think I ran a clear and flawless race, as one should do. I don’t care if it’s a Red Bull or who it is, the important thing is to get those points”, said Hulkenberg at the end of the race, underlining the satisfaction for a race finished in the points, the sixth this season, plus the sprint in Miami.