AUSTIN — On Thursday on the Circuit of the Individuals Nico Hülkenberg met with the assembled media, together with SB Nation, in Haas’ hospitality area. Throughout that dialogue, the German driver famous his optimism for the weekend, given an improve package deal the workforce delivered to Austin. As Hülkenberg famous, in distinction to the 2023 season, upgrades appeared to be working significantly better for the workforce throughout this marketing campaign.
Plainly optimism was warranted.
Each Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen pushed into SQ3 on Friday in Austin, and the pair will begin inside the highest eight when the lights exit Saturday within the F1 Dash Race at the US Grand Prix. Hülkenberg is about to begin sixth, with Magnussen proper behind him on the grid in eighth.
Group Principal Ayao Komatsu hailed the “wonderful end result” after the session.
“That was an incredible end result,” mentioned Komatsu. “On the medium tires, Kevin was on high of it and doing very well and Nico was really taking part in catch-up, he wasn’t as proud of the automotive as Kevin. In the direction of the top of SQ2, Nico had fairly a giant water leak challenge so it was actually contact and go as to whether we may ship him out in SQ3 however everybody within the storage did an incredible job to get him out; after we left the storage, there was solely a ten second margin.
“On used softs he delivered a terrific lap once more to get P6, whereas Kevin was barely disenchanted to be P8 on the brand new tire, however should you’re disenchanted with P8, that’s a superb place. I feel the factor is we’ve extra potential, so it’s a extremely good day.”
Hülkenberg virtually appeared shocked on the end result after the session, which he described as “tough” in his feedback.
“I’ll must let that sink in for a bit. It was a really tough qualifying because it was actually up and down. In SQ1 I didn’t really feel excellent within the automotive, and I feel we had been fortunate to make it via, so I didn’t anticipate that. We obtained fortunate, and in SQ2 it obtained higher, and it obtained higher once more in SQ3 on the gentle tires. We nonetheless have to look into the replace because it presently feels tough to drive with the wind and the whole lot, however we now have much more knowledge to take a look at.”
Magnussen, who is about to get the improve following the F1 Dash Race, was not “too shocked” on the end result given the energy the workforce has proven up to now this weekend.
“I feel it’s been wanting good all day actually, so I’m not too shocked that we’re up there. I’m actually glad that we obtained each automobiles into SQ3, with Nico simply acing it when he must on that final lap,” mentioned Magnussen within the workforce’s post-session report. “P6 and P8 for tomorrow’s Dash is an honest begin to the weekend.
“Nico is operating with the improve so it’s further good to see him up there as a result of we wish to see that automotive go faster, and I’m getting the replace after the Dash. It’s good to get knowledge and cut up the automobiles, it’s positively the precise resolution. I did one of the best I may right now so we could be on for factors tomorrow.”
We’ll see if Haas can ship these factors in just some brief hours.
