18/11/2023
NEWS STORY
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg qualified 9th and 13th respectively for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Round 22 of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship - with Magnussen gaining a spot to 8th on the grid for Saturday's night race after a 10-place penalty applied to Carlos Sainz who qualified 2nd.
Under the full glare of the lights illuminating the Las Vas Strip Circuit both VF-23s easily navigated their way through Q1, with Hulkenberg advancing in P5 (1:34.265) and Magnussen in P9 (1:34.337) - both shod on the Pirelli P Zero Red soft tires.
Hulkenberg's qualifying ended at the checkered in Q2 - the German setting a best lap of 1:33.979 on his second timed stint but first on fresh rubber. Magnussen fared better steering his way into Q3 with a fast lap of 1:33.664 on new soft tires - good for P8 on the timing screen.
Magnussen's final set of news softs in Q3 delivered a 1:33.537 lap - good for P9 as qualifying wrapped after 60-minutes. Scuderia Ferrari's Charles Leclerc swept all three qualifying sessions - taking pole with a 1:32.726.
Kevin Magnussen: "It's good to be in the mix up there and I'm really happy with that. In terms of qualifying, we've been good before and have fallen back on race day so that's what we'll try to avoid tomorrow. Yesterday there was a lot of graining with the tires, so we'll see how we manage that as it's going to be key for the race. We'll do our best and see what we can do."
Nico Hulkenberg: "I think we have the pace, and clearly we have it as Kevin is up there. I had it too but unfortunately, I didn't have a clean lap on the ultimate lap that mattered as I locked up into Turn 7. I feel like we still do have half a chance here of having a race or a fight on our hands tomorrow. The cooler temperatures hopefully help us so it's just about graining, but I think all cars have similar issues. We're expecting graining, hence it's about avoiding it as best as possible. No one has ever raced here though, so it leaves some question marks and maybe we have a shot."
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: "It's been a pretty good day for us today. FP3 was a constructive session, following on from yesterday - we got all the laps in, we got more data and most importantly prepared well for qualifying. We got one car into Q3 and one just outside, with Nico locking up going into a corner. Kevin said it wasn't his best lap, the money lap, but we're happy to be starting P8 and P13."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Las Vegas here.