Haas’ team scored no points in Baku. Nico Hulkenberg spent most of the distance in the top ten on one set of tyres, waiting for the safety car to change tires without losing positions, but the calculation failed and he finished seventeenth.
His teammate Kevin Magnussen was stuck in traffic all race and could not get above thirteenth place.
Kevin Magnussen (13th): “I spent the whole race in traffic. The car had a faster pace, but I couldn’t attack. With these rear wing settings we were fast without DRS, but the open wing had little to no effect.
It was very difficult to overtake, but I defended well because the car is fast enough even without DRS. This little feature predetermined the race – looking at the cars ahead, I knew I could go faster, but I didn’t get a chance to overtake.
In a way, last year’s history repeated itself as we claimed points for points all the way to the finish, but as I said, this year we were even faster. Hopefully the pace will continue in Miami where we will try again.”
Nico Hulkenberg (17th): “I worked hard to stay focused all race. I rode every lap in qualifying mode and gave my best. For forty laps with tires everything was fine, but then they quickly started to lose their effectiveness.
To implement our strategy, a safety car was supposed to leave the track, but it didn’t. In any case, we learned a lot today, preferring to change the settings and start from the pit lane.
As I said, we learned a lot, which is positive, and now we go to Miami, where I think we will be more competitive.”
Gunter Steiner, Team boss: “Kevin damaged the front wing endplate at the start – Bottas blocked the wheels in front of him, so Kevin couldn’t dodge. The damage was quite extensive, so replacement of the wing was necessary.
We tried a different strategy with Niko, but it didn’t work because the safety car left too early. Overall the car had good pace and we showed a pace similar to Alpine and McLaren.
We take a short break and head back to Miami. Maybe that track, which requires medium downforce settings, will suit our car better.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
