After a chaotic off-season, and a positive test consisting of long runs, Haas has managed to achieve a good starting position for the 2024 Bahrain GP with both drivers.
The highlight of the American team’s day was definitely Nico Hulkenberg’s top ten placement, whereas Kevin Magnussen will line up in P15 later today.
The Danish driver wasn’t pleased with his performance, especially considering the great run put in by his German teammate, as he said in a post qualifying interview:
“On my side, it’s hard to be happy. The gap was very big to Nico, and I don’t feel like I maximised the potential on new tyres so far. It’s kind of been a little bit the same as last year, where on low fuel new tyres I seemed to struggle and then in race trim it’s all fine.
“So I just need to get there on low fuel and we see the potential is still there in the car. We feel like we’re in good shape for the race, in terms of managing tyres and just pace in general in the race, so hopefully I can move forward.”
Asked to expand on the issue he has been encountering while on newer tyres, and how is Hulkenberg able to deal with it, Magnussen explained he hopes to find a solution to his lack of feeling in the upcoming rounds as he picked up a lot of understeer on fresh softs:
“I think when I get new tyres I just pick up a lot of understeer and therefore not able to use that better grip in the rear tyres because I’m getting understeer in the middle [of the corner].”
“Whereas Nico, when I look at him, he’s able to get the car rotated and use that grip on the rear tyres on exits. I’ll get there, but for now it’s a bit tricky.”
It’s a new kind of trouble that he hadn’t encountered with its previous 2023 challenger, but there will be certainly time throughout the season to look into it and find a solution.
“No, last year the problem was more on entry and just the balance shift, whereas this year… I will have to look into it.”
“It’s obviously just one qualifying, but every time we were out on new tyres I was right there with him, sorry used tyres, I was right there with him, and then new tyres, I couldn’t get the grip out of it. So it’s a bit puzzling, but I’ll work on it and get there.”
Ahead of testing Haas’ new Team Principal Komatsu had stated that his team would be “at the back of the grid, if not last”. Yesterday’s qualifying had a much more positive outcome, but Magnussen warns about the risks of setting too high expectations after one event:
“I think we have to be careful not to get carried away, because it is still just one track, that in the past we have been good at for the first race and then struggling for the rest of the season.”
“But we don’t want to do that, I think that we have changed approach to the season off season, in the winter, and the development has been going well, and the whole approach has been different.
“We are very happy about the perf0rmance we have seen so far, but also wary that it’s early days,” he concluded.
