Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg said the team has been reinvigorated this year after their double points finish in the Australian Grand Prix.
Magnussen scored his points finish of the season when George Russell’s crash on the penultimate lap promoted to 10th place. He finished immediately behind his team mate, having let Hulkenberg overtake him earlier in the race when ordered to by the team.
Two weeks earlier in Jeddah, Magnussen played a vital role in helping Hulkenberg score their first point of the year by tactically slowing the field behind him. He said their double score yesterday was down to “great teamwork once again.”
“The VSC didn’t help me,” said Magnussen, “but on the flip-side, it helped Nico so we could get him back into the battle and it’s fantastic to get three points here.”
The team’s performance over the first three races of the new season is a contrast to last year, when they sank to last place in the constructors’ championship.
“It’s very encouraging and it’s a different way to go racing,” he said. “Last year we woke up on race day knowing it’s not going to be good. Today, I woke up knowing we would have a chance to fight, and it was true.
“We were stronger with our race pace than qualifying, and we just need to keep working in this direction.”
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Hulkenberg was grateful for his team mate’s help again. “The first VSC helped me and I overtook a car at each of my stops at the pit exit. That really made my race today, that together with the VSC and our teamwork – so I’m really happy.”
In 2023 the Haas drivers regularly qualified well but slipped back in the race. Hulkenberg echoed Magnussen’s view the team has made strides in reversing that trend.
“I feel more encouraged today that the car felt better than in qualifying, which is different from last year, but it’s practical to have it this way around.”
Before the season began new team principal Ayao Komatsu, who replaced Guenther Steiner in January, predicted they would be “towards the back of the grid, if not last.” Three races in they have scored four points and lie seventh in the championship.
He said Haas’ first double points finish since the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix was the product of a “great team effort.” However he saw room for improvement in their performance.
“After yesterday’s qualifying I said we expected to have better race pace but to be able to get…
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