AUSTIN — On Thursday on the Circuit of the People 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 group delivered to Austin. As Hülkenberg famous, in distinction to the 2023 season, upgrades gave the impression to be working significantly better for the group throughout this marketing campaign.
It appears that evidently 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 america Grand Prix. Hülkenberg is about to begin sixth, with Magnussen proper behind him on the grid in eighth.
Workforce Principal Ayao Komatsu hailed the “superb outcome” after the session.
“That was an incredible outcome,” stated Komatsu. “On the medium tires, Kevin was on prime of it and doing very well and Nico was really taking part in catch-up, he wasn’t as proud of the automobile as Kevin. In direction of the tip of SQ2, Nico had fairly a giant water leak problem so it was actually contact and go as to if we might ship him out in SQ3 however everybody within the storage did an incredible job to get him out; once we left the storage, there was solely a ten second margin.
“On used softs he delivered an amazing lap once more to get P6, whereas Kevin was barely upset to be P8 on the brand new tire, however in case you’re upset with P8, that’s an excellent place. I believe the factor is we now have extra potential, so it’s a extremely good day.”
Hülkenberg nearly appeared shocked on the outcome 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 superb within the automobile, and I believe we have been fortunate to make it via, so I didn’t count on that. We bought fortunate, and in SQ2 it bought higher, and it bought higher once more in SQ3 on the mushy tires. We nonetheless have to look into the replace because it at present feels tough to drive with the wind and all the pieces, however we now have much more information to have a look at.”
Magnussen, who is about to get the improve following the F1 Dash Race, was not “too shocked” on the outcome given the energy the group has proven up to now this weekend.
“I believe 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 bought each vehicles into SQ3, with Nico simply acing it when he must on that final lap,” stated Magnussen within the group’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 additional good to see him up there as a result of we need to see that automobile go faster, and I’m getting the replace after the Dash. It’s good to get information and break up the vehicles, it’s positively the proper choice. I did the perfect I might right this moment so we could be on for factors tomorrow.”
We’ll see if Haas can ship these factors in just some quick hours.
