09/06/2024
NEWS STORY
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team finished with Nico Hulkenberg 11th, and Kevin Magnussen 12th, at a wet/dry Canadian Grand Prix, Round 9 of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, held Sunday at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Heavy rain during the build-up to the race soaked the circuit and both Magnussen and Hulkenberg took the start on Pirelli Cinturato Blue wet tires, Magnussen from P14, and Hulkenberg from P17. They were the only two drivers to start on the compound, rather than the Green intermediates, and consequently surged forwards through the extremely wet opening laps. Magnussen dazzled as he carved his way through the midfield to rise as high as fourth, with Hulkenberg also making up 10 spots to run in seventh position.
As the track conditions improved, the intermediate tires proved to be faster and Magnussen pitted on lap 7 for the compound, emerging in P14, before Hulkenberg came in on lap 13 to also make the change, dropping to the back of the field. Both drivers made another pit stop on lap 25, under a safety car period caused when Logan Sargeant crashed out, Magnussen holding P14 and Hulkenberg P17, with both drivers having taken on another set of intermediates. The circuit continued to dry and Magnussen came in for Pirelli P Zero Yellow mediums on lap 42, followed by Hulkenberg on lap 44, before another safety car period was triggered, caused when Ferrari's Carlos Sainz spun and tagged the Williams of Alex Albon.
Hulkenberg took the restart from P12, with Magnussen P14, and both drivers gained a spot when Yuki Tsunoda spun, while Magnussen worked his way past Valtteri Bottas in the closing stages. Hulkenberg and Magnussen chased the Alpine drivers to the finish line but had to settle for 11th and 12th respectively, just half a second outside of the points.
Nico Hulkenberg: "With Tsunoda's spin, I tried to react, stop it, and somehow avoid him, but it must've been by a few millimeters - I was braced for impact. The first 10 laps went really well but then the track dried out, so all the work came undone again, but we knew about that scenario. I think it was a clean race, no mistakes, but I think we got a little bit unlucky with one of the safety cars, I feel like we missed out. At the end, it was good to wait a little bit later for the slicks because it was difficult in the first sector to keep it on the track. I gained a few positions there but then I was running in a train with others. I was running high downforce so on the straights I was a sitting duck, and without DRS I was going pretty slow."
Kevin Magnussen: "It didn't feel like we got the best out of it today with all the opportunity that race offered, we didn't seem to capitalize on that, so that's disappointing. We'll review and try to understand it as right now it's all a bit blurred, but there was lots of opportunity, that's for sure, and we didn't get any points. We had one very slow pit stop and one medium slow pit stop, and I also think we pitted for inters off from the full wets too early. It felt like something was coming at the beginning of the race but there's nothing to show for it."
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "It was a pretty frustrating day unfortunately as I think we made the right choice putting both drivers on wet tires, that was good. Both Kevin and Nico did a good a very good job, made lots of positions up and we pitted at the right time for inters with Kevin, only for our pit stop issue to undo our gains, which is frustrating. In terms of pace, with Kevin we wanted to go on to the slicks early, but in hindsight, it was too early, and Nico's timing was absolutely perfect. On the last set of tires for Kevin, the pace came back, so again it's just frustrating that with certain parts we showed we had the speed and potential, but we just didn't put it together for the needs of our drivers. Finishing just outside of the top 10, we have to regroup and go again in Barcelona, but today it wasn't great operationally, so we need to review and make sure we improve as a race team."