Hülkenberg: “I want to score points again, that’s my mission in Austria” | FP

The Haas moment

The Austrian Grand Prix of this weekend will put an end to the month of June, one of the most tense for the Haason and off the track. While on the one hand there is the constant fear of a penalty that could be inflicted once again on Kevin Magnussensynonymous with an almost certain exclusion for a GP for the Danish driver due to the almost reached limit of penalty points (10 accumulated out of 12 total), on the other hand there is always the question inherent to the future of the team line-up American.

In Austria to get back into the points

For several days now, Oliver Bearman has seemed increasingly closer to signing the contract to become the team’s new starting driver for 2025, with the young Briton potentially replacing Nico Hülkenberg, already agreed with Sauber for next season. Furthermore, speaking of the German, the latter’s appointment with the points zone is now missing from the Chinese GP. A top-10 finish that has almost always come close since then with 11th place, in a series of consecutive placings just outside the points zone that the 36-year-old wants to interrupt, starting with Spielberg: “It’s a short track that offers a lot of fun – has explained – the length of the circuit means we’re all together during qualifying, which is a challenge, but we have two opportunities as it’s a Sprint. Last year I scored points at the Red Bull Ring, so I know it can be done, and we want to get back to scoring points, so this is the mission in Spielberg“.

Straight line speed: the strong point

An absence from the top ten which, combined with that of Magnussen (reached by the Dane only in Australia), also had an impact on the Constructors’ standings, with Haas overtaken by Alpine at the end of the Spanish GP and now down to eighth position, one point behind the French team: “It’s a fun track – added Magnussen while waiting for the Austrian GP – I have great memories of the Red Bull Ring, where we achieved our best team result, so I can’t wait to go back. We have a fairly efficient machine, then I hope that with our good speed on the straight we can do well. There’s still a fair amount of high-speed cornering, which maybe isn’t our strong point, but it feels like it we’re pretty consistent in most circuits. I’m looking forward to a fun Sprint weekend.”