Haas F1 adapts its strategy during the Bahrain GP’s initial sessions, focusing on long runs and revealing potential for the weekend.
During the initial free practice session of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Haas F1’s Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen lagged significantly behind the rest of the field on the timesheet, prompting the team to focus on long runs on Friday morning, resulting in notably modest lap times.
Hülkenberg Secures Top FP2 Spot, Haas Shows Potential
The German driver managed to secure the seventh fastest time in the second practice session (FP2) in the afternoon, placing seven spots ahead of the Danish driver. However, the remainder of the weekend will reveal more about the VF-24’s true potential.
“It was a pretty good Friday – the first of the year – so there aren’t many benchmarks yet,” Hülkenberg commented.
“This morning, we continued to focus on long-term and race strategy, trying different things. The afternoon was closer to a standard program. The single lap pace was perhaps a bit unexpected, but there’s no reason to get too excited or ambitious at this point. I think there are a few who haven’t done low fuel runs and have more potential, but it’s going to be tight and interesting to see. I expect a very tight field in qualifying, like last year, and it’s going to continue that way – so any small mistake can have a significant impact. I’m not exactly sure where we’ll stand, but we’ll give it our all tomorrow.”
Magnussen echoed his teammate’s sentiment.
“I think the day went rather well. There’s always a lot of uncertainty regarding everyone’s fuel loads, but we focused on race stints and it was good – I’m encouraged so far. As for low fuel, the learning curve will still be significant since we haven’t raced – FP2 was our first real low fuel run, so there’s a lot to learn. It seems simpler than high fuel running, with which I feel we’re heading in the right direction, at least in terms of tire wear. I’m curious about the car’s real race pace, but tire degradation is better.”
For Ayao Komatsu, Haas F1 team’s director, the day was also full of lessons. Like his drivers, he is not concerned about the slow times in FP1 and is not overly excited about Hülkenberg’s seventh place in FP2.
Haas F1 Prioritizes Fuel Strategy, Learns from FP1
“In FP1, we continued to work on the basis of last week’s work – looking at long-term performance with a lot of fuel – because it’s still our biggest limitation. That’s why we were at the bottom of the timesheet, but we weren’t worried about that; we focused on our program, as we did in winter testing. I’m glad we learned two or three things that led to changes for FP2.”
Haas F1 Faces Challenges, Shows Promise in FP2 Test
“In FP2, the conditions were very different from winter testing, it was even quite cold. In both sessions, there was a lot of wind, and it was more challenging than last week. During FP2, we looked at our low fuel performance for the first time since the third day of winter testing. Again, we didn’t get the best possible result, but that said, Nico’s lap was pretty good, but that’s not my main concern. We then did a run with a lot of fuel – and it was good – but it shows we still have some work to do. The things we learned during winter testing were reflected today, and it shows we’re in a better position, but we need to take one more step, so we’re really focused on that.”
Haas F1 Bahrain Strategy 2024. Haas F1 Bahrain Strategy 2024.
- Williams F1 Surprised by FW46’s Pace in Bahrain
- Following us on Facebook and Twitter.
