Lack of Haas F1 team progress “disappointing and upsetting”

The German says his pace with the older spec VF-23 relative to Kevin Magnussen’s upgraded model in qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix confirms that the team has been “overtaken and out-developed” by rivals.

Haas introduced a major new package at the United States GP and, after inconclusive results, agreed to allow the two drivers to follow their personal preferences for the last two races of the season. Hulkenberg preferred the original package and team-mate Magnussen the updated version.

In Abu Dhabi the German has been clearly ahead, taking eighth, ninth and eighth places across the three qualifying sessions, despite handing his car to Oliver Bearman for FP1 and missing most of FP2 after a crash. In contrast, Magnussen could manage only 17^th and a Q1 exit with the newer spec.

The team has fallen to 10^th and last in the constructors’ standings and currently lies four points behind Alfa Romeo.

“It just confirms my impression that the updated car didn’t really give a significant step,” said Hulkenberg of the gap in Abu Dhabi qualifying.

“They’re probably very, very similar in terms of performance. Which in itself, obviously, is not great, because with an update, you need it to work. So maybe proved a point there.

“[It’s] very disappointing and upsetting for us. We’re not happy about this, of course.

“That’s the story of our season, we didn’t develop anything and totally got overtaken and out-developed and hence, we’re last today, that’s the root cause.

“So we need to really address going into next year.” 

Asked about prospects for 2024 given the lack of progress, he said: “That’s all hypothetical.

“I think we have to prove it when the time comes. I think we need to look at what we’ve done and what we have.

“Maybe we need to make some changes because what we’ve done this year didn’t work. But there are some big questions going into winter break now.” 

Hulkenberg admitted that he hadn’t expected to qualify so well in Abu Dhabi, with the team’s own calculations suggesting that he was more likely to join Magnussen in not progressing from Q1.

“Not bad, and pretty unexpected, to be honest,” he said when asked by Autosport about the performance.

“I mean, Friday was obviously a really bad day. With the FP1 I sat out, that’s normal, that’s not the cause. 

“And I did a mistake in FP2, and only…