Magnussen: There is still a lack of pace in long series

Although Haas F1 has not brought any new product to Singapore and the VF-23 car is exactly the same as in the previous phase of the season, at least the American team’s drivers looked more or less good in practice – Kevin Magnussen set the 9th fastest time and Nico Hulkenberg – 11th. In total they completed 92 laps in two sessions around the Marina Bay city circuit.

Kevin Magnussen (9th): “In one fast lap with a small amount of fuel everything went well, but with a full tank we still lack the pace. This is the topic we are focusing on – as always this year.

The pace deficit actually manifests itself during long sets of laps, and we are trying to solve this. Marina Bay is one of those circuits where overtaking is more difficult, so it is important to start close to the front rows. I hope we can qualify well and reach a reasonably high position.”

Nico Hulkenberg (11th): “During the training, as usual, we collected the necessary information about the track and the car’s behavior. We experimented with the settings and did some good laps, so now we have a lot of data to analyze.

I think we should be quite competitive in qualifying, but there are difficulties ahead in the race. With the new track configuration we get around faster and I predict the results will again be very close, so even a small speed difference can have a noticeable effect.

Because it is difficult to overtake here, I want to perform as well as possible in qualifying.”

Gunther Steiner, team manager: “The training went well, we completed the entire program and it seems that the car performs a little better on this track. But I don’t want to jump to conclusions, and it remains to be seen how the car handles long heats, as today it was impossible to do more than 8 or 9 laps in a row.

“We have at least been able to make some improvements, but this is only the first day of the weekend.”