Haas F1 Team
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team finished with Nico Hulkenberg 11th, and Kevin Magnussen 12th, at a wet/dry 2024 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix, Round 9 of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, held Sunday at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=41]
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 tyres, 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 forward 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 tyres 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. 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 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 millimetres – 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. In 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 track. I gained a few positions there, but then I was running on 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 was 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 tyres; that was good. Both Kevin and Nico did 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 tyres 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.
-
![img]()
-
![img]()
2024 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix Highlights
Max Verstappen converted pole position into victory in a 2024... Read More+ -
![img]()
2024 Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix Highlights
McLaren driver Lando Norris added his name to the list of For... Read More+ -
![img]()
2023 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix highlights
Max Verstappen made it six victories from eight races in 2023 with a... Read More+
Related Articles