01/07/2023
NEWS STORY
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen finished Saturday's 24-lap Austrian Grand Prix Sprint in P6 and P14 respectively, at the Red Bull Ring, Spielberg.
Saturday's action started with the Sprint Shootout determining the grid for the F1 Sprint, and with the track classified wet, teams were allowed to choose their tire compounds for the session. Both drivers safely navigated their respective VF-23s through SQ1 thanks to their second timed runs, Hulkenberg setting a quickest lap of 1:06.548 on used Pirelli P Zero Red softs and Magnussen recording a 1:06.629 on new softs.
Both drivers left the garage on used softs for SQ2, setting nearly identical lap times on their first run, Hulkenberg with a 1:06.154 and teammate Magnussen .002 behind. On their second outing, both advanced into SQ3, Magnussen improving with a 1:05.730 and Hulkenberg registering a time of 1:06.091.
The final stage of the Sprint Shootout saw another solid performance from both, Hulkenberg qualifying P4 with a fastest time of 1:05.084 and Magnussen rounding out the top 10 with a fastest time of 1:05.912.
Rain closed in on the Red Bull Ring with both Hulkenberg and Magnussen starting the Sprint race on Green Intermediate tires.
Hulkenberg had a clean start off the line overtaking the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz and capitalized on the sparring Red Bull duo ahead, claiming P2 on the opening lap from Sergio Perez. The German made a valiant attempt to hold position, but with tires starting to fade, he was passed by Perez on lap 12 and one lap later by Sainz, placing Hulkenberg P4.
Magnussen lost one position on the opening lap and became the filling in a Mercedes sandwich on lap 2, but promptly regained the position from George Russell a lap later after a confident overtake on the outside of Turn 7. On lap 9, Magnussen's attempt to keep Russell behind couldn't be maintained, and the sister Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton passed the Dane one lap later, dropping him to P13.
On Lap 18, both VF-23s came into the pits to swap for fresh Medium dry tires as track evolution came into play, Hulkenberg coming back out in P9, and Magnussen P17.
As others around started to pit, Magnussen gained a couple of positions and overtook the Alpine of Pierre Gasly to finish P14. With renewed pace, on the final lap Hulkenberg was able to chase down and pass McLaren's Lando Norris and Alpine's Esteban Ocon, who hadn't pitted, to come home P6 and collect three points.
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team moves up to seventh position in the Constructors' Championship with 11 points.
Kevin Magnussen: "It was a disappointing Sprint race for me. There were tricky conditions out there, especially going onto dry tires in damp conditions - the pace wasn't there. Those are usually conditions that I like, but I didn't really get anything out of it today. I just didn't really have great pace on either the intermediates or the dry tires. It's disappointing. I need to see how we can understand it and of course, I'll look at my teammate and see where he was, he was faster than me, so I need to see how I can improve."
Nico Hulkenberg: "I'm happy first and foremost now. Three points on the board in the Sprint wasn't really expected for us, so that's pretty positive. My inters were going away from me, I was going backwards more than others and the track was kind of ready for slicks, so we opted for that decision, and it was the right call for us."
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: "It's been a good day for us today. Firstly, in Sprint qualifying, having two cars in SQ3 was fantastic, and then in the race with Nico getting some points was very important, and very good for the team. Under these difficult conditions we're normally doing a very good job. We've got some work to do on the car but we'll get there as well. Bagging three points in a Sprint is good for us. Tomorrow, we start with one car in the top 10, and hopefully we'll get some more."
Check out our Saturday gallery from the Red Bull Ring here.