Haas head into the Monaco Grand Prix weekend sitting P7 in the Constructors’ Championship on 8 points. It will also be the team’s 150th race in Formula 1 since their debut at the 2016 Australian Grand Prix.
Kevin Magnussen had a very strong outing in Miami last time out to bag a point after starting a sensational P4. It was certainly no fluke as every single driver finished the race, and it was definitely one of his strongest performances since he returned.
Magnussen’s race also included incredible battles with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. He passed and repassed the Monegasque on multiple occasions.
Speaking in the press conference ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, Magnussen says the VF-23 is a solid car without any massive strengths or weaknesses.
The Dane also believes fighting for P10 or around that area at every event should the goal for his team throughout the remainder of the campaign.
“I think we’ve been pretty, not consistent in terms of results, but at least in terms of performance. I feel like we’ve had a pretty good package for all these different tracks we’ve been to this year. That gives some confidence that this track could be OK as well.
“I don’t think our car has any specific weaknesses or specific strengths. I think it’s pretty overall… you know, we’re in the mix in the top 10.
“We saw in Miami it was a race where everyone finished. There was not even a yellow flag in the race, and we finished 10th with everyone finishing and no sort of strategic advantage, or like a safety car or anything like that, we were in the top 10 still.
“So I think that’s where we aim to be every race, trying to get into the top 10 and score points.”
Nico Hülkenberg has bagged four points finishes in his previous races around the famous streets of Monte Carlo.
The German had a difficult race in Miami after a messy end to Q2 in regards to traffic saw him get knocked out.
Much like his stablemate, he thinks they can fight for a point or some points this weekend.
Nonetheless, he’s fully aware that everything needs to be perfect from both the car and driver for that to happen.
“I think car-wise and competitiveness-wise I think we should be fine. I see no reason why we shouldn’t be able to challenge for points on Sunday.
“It’s a challenging weekend, you have to maximise every session, get a rhythm, get confidence as a driver. That’s very key here.
“But you need a clean weekend to be able to succeed. The midfield is so tight that we have to have a smooth weekend to score points. The margins are so tiny and narrow there that everything needs to go smoothly for us to be able to take points home.”
Monaco is on the extreme end of the downforce scale due to the fact overtaking is pretty much impossible. All cars will be running with maximum downforce this weekend.
“I think it’s obviously the first time also we run the car at full downforce configuration this year. We’ve never had that wing on the car yet. We’ve also had some tweaks to the car. So we’ll just go out there and see what it’s like.
“But I’m optimistic and positive towards the weekend,” concluded the German driver.
Photo credit: MoneyGram Haas F1 Team
