02/07/2023
NEWS STORY
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team driver Kevin Magnussen classified 19th, while Nico Hulkenberg was forced into retirement, at Round 10 of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the Austrian Grand Prix, held Sunday at the Red Bull Ring, Spielberg.
Magnussen started from the pit lane on Pirelli P Zero White hard tires after set-up changes were made pre-race outside of parc ferme conditions. Magnussen pitted for yellow Mediums at the end of lap 1, before returning to hards on lap 2, with both stops taken under the safety car. Magnussen worked his way into the top 10 but off-strategy on older tires relinquished positions and was forced wide into the Turn 6 gravel by Nyck de Vries, an infraction which led to a penalty for the AlphaTauri driver. Magnussen pitted again for hard tires on lap 35 and was classified in 19th position.
Hulkenberg - who scored three points after taking sixth place in Saturday's F1 Sprint - started from eighth on the grid on medium tires, having progressed through to Q3 for the third successive event. Hulkenberg gained a position on a battling opening lap to hold seventh spot before coming into the pits on lap 11. Hulkenberg made his mandatory pit stop, switching to hard tires, but unfortunately his race came to an end two laps later due to a power unit issue. Hulkenberg halted his VF-23 at Turn 2 and retired from the race.
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team holds seventh position in the Constructors' Championship on 11 points.
Kevin Magnussen: "I had very poor pace. I went into the gravel at high-speed when de Vries pushed me on at Turn 6, and I don't know if there was damage to the floor, so we'll have to check that but there was no chance today. We'll continue to work to improve as fast as we can."
Nico Hulkenberg: "We don't know the full picture, but after the first stop the issue occurred and we lost power and couldn't continue. It's not ideal, it makes things more difficult going forward because we have less information, but we have to make the most of what we have. We're surrounded by quicker cars that are pushing on from behind, forcing us to go at a pace we're not necessarily able to keep up with. The positive is the two very good qualifying sessions this weekend, and obviously a very good Sprint, so at least we have that."
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: "Thankfully we got some points yesterday when we had the opportunity. Today has been a very disappointing day for us, another PU failure on Nico's car and obviously the car is not fast enough in dry conditions. We've got a lot of work in front of us, and we will keep on working. When we have the tools, we can get good results as we showed yesterday, we just need to do our homework."
Check out our Sunday gallery from the Red Bull Ring here.