Komatsu: Starting on rain tires was the right decision

The Canadian stage was the fourth race in a row in which the Haas team failed to gain points, although Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg started quite brightly.

The Dane managed to reach 4th position in the first laps, and his teammate seventh. This was possible because, unlike everyone else, they started on heavy rain tires. But soon both rolled back and could not regain.

Nico Hulkenberg (11th): “When Yuki Tsunoda’s car, which was driving in front of me, turned around, I tried to react and somehow avoid contact, but we were a few millimeters apart and I was already preparing for a collision.

The first ten laps went well, but then the track started to dry out and we had to start all over again. However, we knew such a scenario was possible. I think I had a good race and didn’t make any mistakes, but we were a bit unlucky when the safety car came on track.

At the end of the race we did well not to rush to slicks, because it was not easy to keep the car on the track in the first sector. I made up a few positions, but then rode with everyone in a close group. In addition, the car was set to a high level of downforce, which meant I could not defend effectively on the straights and without DRS there was a lack of speed.”

Kevin Magnussen (12th): “It doesn’t feel like we took full advantage of all the opportunities that arose during the race today, and that’s frustrating. We will analyze everything and try to find out, although the impressions so far are somewhat vague.

But we can definitely say that there were many chances, but we didn’t earn any points. One of the pit stops was very slow, the second was not too fast either. But I also think we switched from heavy rain tires to intermediate tires too early.

At the beginning of the race we had the impression that we could fight for a good result, but in the end we had nothing left.”

Ayo KomatsuTeam boss: “Unfortunately it was a frustrating day, because I think we made the right choice when both riders started on heavy rain tires.

Kevin and Nico performed well, gained many positions and at Magnussen the moment to switch to intermediate tires was well chosen, but at the pit stop there was a problem and we lost everything that had been regained.

Then we decided to fit Kevin’s car with slicks too early, although in Nico’s case the timing was absolutely perfect. Magnussen showed good pace again on the last set of tyres, but it’s just a shame that we weren’t able to sort everything out.

In the end we finished just outside the top ten, but now we have to rebuild and make our next attempt in Barcelona. We didn’t perform well today, so we have to analyze everything and try to improve.”