21/09/2024
NEWS STORY
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen qualified 6th and 14th respectively for the Singapore Grand Prix, Round 18 of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.
Night-time qualifying kicked off at 21:00 (local) at the Marina Bay Street Circuit and Hulkenberg and Magnussen eased straight from Q1 into Q2 with hot laps on their second sets of Pirelli P Zero Red soft tires. Hulkenberg steered his VF-24 to P11 (1:30.724) with Magnussen earning P14 (1:30.829).
Both had two new sets of the softs available again in Q2 - each driver bettering their time on their second timed attack. Hulkenberg sealed a spot in the top 10 with a 1:30.150 lap - good for P7 at the Q2 checkered. Magnussen clocked a best lap of 1:30.653, up two tenths from his first attempt, but P14 on the timesheets meaning the Dane exited qualifying.
Hulkenberg saved the best for last as he powered his way to P6 in Q3 - the German's quickest lap on fresh softs a 1:30.115, seeing him earn a third-row grid slot for Sunday's 62-lap race alongside last week's Azerbaijan race winner Oscar Piastri in P5.
Nico Hulkenberg: "I'm very happy, that was a solid qualifying from the team. They were clean laps and I had a good feeling and confidence in the car, which is crucial around here and on street circuits in general, and something I was missing a bit last week. I'm happy, we didn't leave much out there and we maximized the session. I think we were the fifth fastest team out there today. We have a big job ahead tomorrow and we need to close it out; we need to stay focused and bring it home."
Kevin Magnussen: "It was very marginal even though P14 doesn't look great. There's so little in it that we could've been in Q3, so we were just on the wrong end of those margins. The car is in a good place and Nico had amazing pace in quali, so I have faith we can move forward tomorrow, and we can have a good day. In the first few runs, I felt more competitive but other people picked up more pace than I did, and I probably reached my maximum with the car."
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "What can I say - P6 for qualifying in Singapore is an unbelievable team effort. It's an amazing result and I'm so happy for everyone. Particularly how we started this weekend, FP1 was difficult and neither driver was happy with the car. I'm really proud of the engineering team and everyone in the garage for working together and staying calm, they followed the evolution of the track and improved the car. Both Nico and Kevin adapted to the new conditions and today in qualifying, the operational delivery of the session throughout Q1, Q2, and Q3 was mega. It's a great starting point and tomorrow we'll try to finish the job by scoring points."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Marina Bay here.