It wasn’t the simplest weekend of the season for Haas, which also returned home in Mexico with zero points on the scoresheet, thus slipping to last position in the constructors’ championship. On the one hand, Nico Hulkenberg drove an excellent race, remaining in the top ten and leading the mid-table group for the first twenty-four laps, or until the stop. In the second part of the race, the German then tried to keep behind him for as long as possible, but the excessive degradation of the medium tyre, one of the weak points of the VF-23, led him to finish outside the zone valid for points.
Much more complicated, however, was the race of his teammate, Kevin Magnussen, who was the victim of an accident during the 32nd lap due to the failure of the left rear suspension. A breakage occurred at the fast turn eight, therefore in an area that imposes high stress on the suspension department.
Fortunately Magnussen got out of the car without the need for outside help and, after being taken to the medical center for a check-up, was able to return to the pits with his team without consequences. However, the damage to the barriers led to the display of the red flag, in order to give the course marshals the opportunity to carry out the necessary repairs.
Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-23
According to what was declared by the team, the failure of the left rear suspension was caused by overheating of the brakes, so much so that in the moments following the accident a fire could also be seen starting in that area of the car. From the early stages of the race, the team had asked Magnussen on several occasions to perform lift and coast to keep the temperatures of the Power Unit and brakes under control, always a thorny issue in Mexico given the thin air and the layout of the tracked.
When you find yourself in the wake of another single-seater, it is difficult to find the right compromise, because on the one hand you don’t want to overheat the front brakes, but on the other you also don’t want to shift the balance too much towards the rear axle, given the risk that the heat generated can be transmitted to the rear covers, which are already largely under stress.
In this specific case, the brake temperatures on Magnussen’s car would have reached the critical point in the duel with Logan Sargeant. After the American immediately overtook, in fact, the engineer had suggested to the Dane to “bring the brake temperatures back under control”, but only a few seconds later his race ended against the barriers.
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Kevin Magnussen, Haas F1
“I feel good. The suspension gave out. The left rear, specifically, lost a lot of grip a couple of laps before, I suddenly lost a lot of grip, and then it gave way after that,” explained Magnussen, who just moments before the accident, in fact, he had complained about the behavior of that part of the car.
During the red flag the team checked Nico Hulkenberg’s sister car, but the same problems were not found and the German was able to complete the second part of the race.
“It was an overheating problem that caused a suspension failure. It was brake heat. Kevin was defending himself. It was just because of the high temperatures here. We just need to manage them better. Nico’s car was fine “, explained Team Principal Gunther Steiner.
An episode which, in reality, recalls another which occurred a few years ago, more specifically during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend in 2019. In that case, fortunately, the suspension failure did not cause an accident, but still forced Lando Norris to park his car after a few turns. After a detailed investigation, the team concluded that the cause of the failure was a fire caused by high brake temperatures, the management of which is particularly complex in Montreal. Given the little air flow to cool the system, the temperatures had reached very high levels, higher than what carbon can withstand, thus leading to the subsequent failure of the suspension.
Despite extensive damage and the loss of a complete set of the recent upgrade package, Steiner says the team has enough spares on hand to complete the season: “We’re good. It’s not ideal, but that’s OK. In the end of the season is always better. Now you can’t have spare parts anymore, even if you want them.”
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