Hulkenberg warns it could ‘take very little’ to derail Haas progress
Nico Hulkenberg is happy with Haas’ early progress in the young 2024 season, but cautions against complacency, warning that it could take very little to disrupt the team’s fortunes.
Haas entered the season with tempered expectations set by new team principal Ayao Komatsu who projected a tough start for the US outfit due to the late development of its VF-24.
A spot among the top-ten in qualifying in Bahrain for Hulkenberg was an early positive sign that’s Haas had a healthy package on its hands.
In Jeddah, a solid drive by the German coupled with some handy and opportunistic teammate work by Kevin Magnussen yielded a P10 finish for the Hulk.
Finally, last weekend in Melbourne, more smart collaboration between Hulkenberg and Magnussen delivered a double points finish for the Haas.
But beyond the team’s productive results, Hulkenberg highlights how consistency instilled in this year’s design has translated into better tyre management on race day, the team’s Achilles heal in the past two seasons.
“I think we’ve made very good progress in a very little amount of time, actually, in December, where the aero guys found a lot of performance and somehow straightened out the aero map problems we had last year,” commented Hulkenberg last weekend in Australia, quoted by MotorsportWeek.
“And that just means much more consistency on Sunday and therefore better tyre life and characteristics.”
Despite the progress, Hulkenberg says Haas must not get carried away as ongoing challenges remain. And it’s focus should be on maximizing every session and exploiting every opportunity that comes its way.
“I think you’ve got to be careful with all these conclusions,” he cautioned.
“Obviously, in Jeddah, we helped our case, you know, with a great team effort. So we are all super close with AlphaTauri [RB] there - I haven’t seen a Sauber in this race - but with Sauber, with Williams, with Alpine even.
“So, you know, it takes very little, and it could be a huge swing around in the other way.
“So it’s just a matter of, you know, always maximizing your weekend, every session. And so far, I think we’ve been good with that.
“Also, somewhat lucky on my side, which is always obviously nice. But eventually, the others will also face some luck.
“So it’s important that we develop the car and, you know, just get stronger on everything.”
Hulkenberg and Magnussen are now in their second season together at Haas.
The two men have had their differences in the past when the raced for opposing teams, but at Haas they have developed a productive working relationship, on and off the track, and their collaboration is paying dividends.
“We are working as a team, as a couple,” confirmed Hulkenberg. “I think we also want very similar things from the car, you know, pulling in one direction, which is always very good for a team, so they can really go in one way.
“And yeah, on and off track, you know, we get on, and it’s good.”
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