Haas expects to earn points regularly

Nico Hulkenberg finished sixth in Austria and Great Britain, also ahead of several drivers from teams whose financial and other resources are difficult to compare with the capabilities of Haas F1. This happens due to the fact that the technical innovations that the American team brings to the races work quite effectively, which its rivals cannot always boast of.

What’s the trick here, journalists from Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport decided to find out.

Haas remains the smallest team in Formula 1, with just 250 employees spread across its three bases. At the same time, in top teams the number of engineers with different profiles can reach four hundred. However, in two consecutive stages, Hülkenberg earned points for sixth place, and if you remember that Kevin Magnussen, his teammate, finished eighth in Austria, it turns out that together they scored 20 points in eight days.

This is more than Haas had in its account for the entire year of 2023.

If the VF-24 car was suitable for the circuit configuration at the Red Bull Ring, the team brought the second series of technical innovations this season at Silverstone. Incidentally, according to team leader Ayo Komatsu, the first proved less effective than Haas had expected: “We expected to increase by two and a half tenths at the time, but on track it turned out that we succeeded in increasing the results by only one and a half tenths.”

The technical innovations presented at Silverstone are based on what has been learned from Red Bull Racing. First of all, this is a new underbody of the car and a different shape of the front part of the side pontoons.

As Haas F1’s aerodynamics chief Luca Metelli explained, the new pontoon geometry allows it to work more effectively with the front wing, making it easier to control the airflow towards the rear of the car. Accordingly, the downforce generated by the aero body kit has become more stable.

“Racers want a car that is easy to drive and reliable. Ultimately, new products also help protect the tires,” Metelli stressed, also mentioning a new approach to organizing work. – We no longer have a boss who makes all the decisions alone. We combine ideas from all 30 of our aerodynamicists. We discuss them openly and are honest with each other.”

Commenting on the performance of the upgraded car after the first day of practice at Silverstone, Nico Hulkenberg said: “The difference between the old and new versions is immediately noticeable. The new version of the aerodynamic body kit generates more downforce without any oscillation.”

Komatsu summed up his impressions: “If the riders feel the difference, that is a good sign. This suggests that the new products are not only proving their effectiveness during wind tunnel testing, but also on the race track.”

Hulkenberg showed the 6th result in qualifying, after which he said: “If it hadn’t been for my mistake in turn 13, I could even have climbed to 3rd or 4th position.”

If you look at the time Niko showed in the decisive attempt in the qualifying final, it becomes clear that he drove best in the first sector of the lap, which consists of two fast corners, a long straight and two slow corners – 3rd and 4th.

From this we can conclude that the VF-24 can handle maximum speed very well, the chassis provides good mechanical grip on the road and the car also allows the tires to warm up quickly.

Metelli admitted that the car is not yet the best at handling medium-speed corners. At Silverstone, they are mainly in the second sector of the circle, and this is where Hulkenberg lost the most time.

However, this did not prevent him from taking sixth place in the race, although he had to hold off the onslaught of Aston Martin drivers for more than half the distance, and the task was made more difficult by constantly changing weather conditions and the state of the track. But together with the Haas strategists, Niko also chose the right tactics: “In terms of tactics, everything worked out well. We switched to intermediate tyres in time, although some of our competitors did so a lap later.

Although the difference was huge. Driving on slicks on a wet track is a thankless and difficult task. We also chose the right moment to return to slicks. In general, we didn’t miss anything.

Although Ferrari of course set up Charles Leclerc with a failed tactic, and George Russell should of course have finished ahead of us (the Mercedes driver retired due to technical problems). But an 8th, 9th or 10th place would be a realistic result anyway. I hope we can show such results regularly now.”

Hulkenberg concluded his comments with a very interesting remark, also quoted by Auto Motor und Sport: “I already do all this work for Ocon.”

Haas’ results in the last two stages could become a new argument for Esteban, who will apparently continue his career at Haas. And Nico has already signed a multi-year contract with Sauber/Audi.