30/11/2024
NEWS STORY
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team pulled three points clear of its nearest rival for sixth place in the Constructors' Championship following Nico Hulkenberg's seventh place finish in the Qatar Sprint race.
Hulkenberg's two points scored at the end of the 19-lap encounter at Lusail International Circuit on Saturday puts the American outfit on 52 points to Alpine's 49 ahead of Sunday's Qatar Grand Prix - the penultimate round of this season's record-breaking 24-race FIA Formula 1 World Championship.
Hulkenberg started the Sprint from P9 gaining two positions on the opening lap. Initially Hulkenberg had Alpine's Pierre Gasly directly behind followed by Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen. The now four-time World Champion dispatched Gasly to take P8 but Verstappen failed to get into the DRS window to take a run at Hulkenberg - the German reveling in the pace of the VF-24 to take the checkered flag in P7, with points in the Sprint only awarded down to P8. Kevin Magnussen made a blinding start from P15 to sit P11 at the start - the Dane then climbing into the top 10 by lap 4. Magnussen held the position to the end comfortably pulling away from the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso behind.
Saturday's night qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix followed the earlier Sprint race with Magnussen leading the charge. Successfully navigating through Q1 with a best lap of 1:21.891 (P11) on Pirelli P Zero Red soft tires, Magnussen then delivered a 1:21.387 (P9) in Q2 to join the top 10 runners in Q3 fighting for pole. An off at turn 10 denied Magnussen a clean run on fresh softs but his earlier 1:21.500 placed him P10 at the checkered. Hulkenberg exited Q1 in P18 after a technical issue meant a lack of charge with his VF-24 - his best time a 1:22.442.
Nico Hulkenberg: "It's a nice feeling to get points already on a Saturday, which is not a normal, or a given for us, so we'll definitely take them. It was a competitive race, the pace was strong and solid, and it was good to be able to keep that Red Bull behind. In qualifying there was a technical issue regarding energy management around the lap - we didn't have full deployment. We didn't have full energy on the push lap which is very costly around here, so that's why we're out in Q1. We'll try to make progress and recover as much as possible but racing and overtaking here is very difficult. You've seen this morning racing is quite static, but we'll give it our best shot tomorrow."
Kevin Magnussen: "I think it was almost the best we could've done in the Sprint, I think we could've got Gasly but it was marginal. I got DRS but I think our starting position ruined any chance of scoring points, however P10 is close to that. It was good to get into Q3 in qualifying, I'm a little bit annoyed with my mistake into turn 10 as that was that, so there could have been one more position in it. I'm still pretty happy with the starting position, it's a long way tomorrow, so hopefully we can have the pace again like we did in the Sprint and score some points. The important thing is we've qualified ahead of Alpine and RB - that's the target - Gasly is right behind me starting on the clean side of the grid so it's going to be a tight battle."
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "Unfortunately, it was a mixed qualifying session, but on the positive side Kevin did a really good job getting into Q3. He was struggling yesterday a little bit, and by his own admission he said he didn't get the best out of the car at all. He had a pretty decent Sprint and adjusted his driving a little bit, so I'm happy for Kevin. His used tire run in Q3 was mega but on his final run on the new tire he had a big moment and lost time, but I'm not saying it's his fault, it looks like it's more wind, so he was just unlucky.
"On Nico's side, his feeling in the car wasn't too bad but why he was out in Q1 has nothing to do with him. We were in the wrong mode on his slow lap and didn't realize it, and that's not acceptable as a team but we're dealing with that as he lost half a second. He's unfortunately P18, but we saw from the Sprint how much pace he's got, so even though he's P18 we're going to try and find a way to get him into the points.
"Our Sprint performance was amazing, we were focused on beating our direct competitors, and Nico had a pretty decent start. Once Max overtook Gasly we accepted we weren't fighting him, but Nico's pace was strong and he stayed ahead of Max on merit, which is a huge positive. Kevin started P15 and drove aggressively for the first half of the Sprint and his pace was there also, so it was really positive this morning to get two points."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Qatar here.