AUSTIN — On Thursday at the Circuit of the Americans Nico Hülkenberg met with the assembled media, including SB Nation, in Haas’ hospitality space. During that discussion, the German driver noted his optimism for the weekend, given an upgrade package the team brought to Austin. As Hülkenberg noted, in contrast to the 2023 season, upgrades seemed to be working much better for the team during this campaign.
It seems that optimism was warranted.
Both Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen pushed into SQ3 on Friday in Austin, and the pair will start inside the top eight when the lights go out Saturday in the F1 Sprint Race at the United States Grand Prix. Hülkenberg is set to start sixth, with Magnussen right behind him on the grid in eighth.
Team Principal Ayao Komatsu hailed the “amazing result” after the session.
“That was an amazing result,” said Komatsu. “On the medium tires, Kevin was on top of it and doing really well and Nico was actually playing catch-up, he wasn’t as happy with the car as Kevin. Towards the end of SQ2, Nico had quite a big water leak issue so it was really touch and go to whether we could send him out in SQ3 but everyone in the garage did an amazing job to get him out; when we left the garage, there was only a 10 second margin.
“On used softs he delivered a great lap again to get P6, whereas Kevin was slightly disappointed to be P8 on the new tire, but if you’re disappointed with P8, that’s a good place. I think the thing is we have more potential, so it’s a really good day.”
Hülkenberg almost seemed surprised at the result after the session, which he described as “tricky” in his comments.
“I’ll have to let that sink in for a bit. It was a very tricky qualifying as it was really up and down. In SQ1 I didn’t feel very good in the car, and I think we were lucky to make it through, so I didn’t expect that. We got lucky, and in SQ2 it got better, and it got better again in SQ3 on the soft tires. We still need to look into the update as it currently feels tricky to drive with the wind and everything, but we now have a lot more data to look at.”
Magnussen, who is set to get the upgrade following the F1 Sprint Race, was not “too surprised” at the result given the strength the team has shown so far this weekend.
“I think it’s been looking good all day really, so I’m not too surprised that we’re up there. I’m really glad that we got both cars into SQ3, with Nico just acing it when he needs to on that last lap,” said Magnussen in the team’s post-session report. “P6 and P8 for tomorrow’s Sprint is a decent start to the weekend.
“Nico is running with the upgrade so it’s extra nice to see him up there because we want to see that car go quicker, and I’m getting the update after the Sprint. It’s good to get data and split the cars, it’s definitely the right decision. I did the best I could today so we can be on for points tomorrow.”
We’ll see if Haas can deliver those points in just a few short hours.