Nico Hülkenberg’s Mexico GP ended in heartbreak as the tyres on his VF-23 completely gave up with just a few laps to go whilst the German was running in P10.
The Haas driver had been heroically fending off the two Alpines in the closing stages after a red flag — caused by a suspension failure that spat teammate Kevin Magnussen into the wall — left him with no choice but to use new mediums on the restart.
Photo credit: MoneyGram Haas F1 Team
Hülkenberg explained doing 35 racing laps on mediums was just too much for the tyres to handle. He lost P10 with six laps to go and crossed the line in P13. Haas’ tyre wear in 2023 has been their Achilles’ heel and it proved so once again on Sunday.
“The timing of the red flag was not great because we only had a new medium left. Our tyre life prediction was like 30 laps, so we knew at the start already that it’s going to be a stretch and needed a safety car or something to keep the tyres going.
“The pace was too high to follow the other guys. I really had to push and eat into the tyre life even more.
“I did what I could. I drove a strong race but unfortunately just not enough performance and pace.”
Haas brought a big upgrade package to Circuit of the Americas as a concept change was chosen due to the limitations of the older one.
However, Hülkenberg feels the older specification could have been better for Mexico as it worked decently in the low speed.
“I don’t know. Honestly, I am not sure. The old spec — if that had any real good characteristic — it was low speed. Low speed it was more or less competitive. Obviously this track is quite low speed dominated.
“I have a feeling the old spec would maybe even have been better here but obviously that’s a one-way street for us with regards to the future.”
Daniel Ricciardo’s P7 yesterday moved AlphaTauri ahead of Haas and Alfa Romeo in the Constructors’ Championship. The American-owned team now sit last in the standings with three races to go, four points adrift of the Italian and Swiss-based squads.
Hülkenberg pulled no punches about his team’s lack of development and their failure to add performance after a promising start to the campaign. They managed to score points in three of the first Grands Prix, plus the sprint race in Austria.
“Inevitable. We’re paying a price for not bringing upgrades, for not finding performance.
“Hopefully it’s a wake-up call to everybody in the factory. At this rate you just can’t compete in F1.”
