Haas Drivers Just Miss Out on Points at Imola

Haas F1 drivers narrowly missed out on points in Imola. Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen both struggled with pace and early pit stops but showed competitive spirit in the midfield.

Nico Hülkenberg finished just outside the points in Imola, and the Haas F1 driver believes he couldn’t have made the top 10 given the race setup. His pit stop was early, preventing him from defending against several drivers.

“We suffered from Yuki’s undercut, which cost us a position. Checo was coming back with the Red Bull, and we couldn’t fight, while Lance had fresher tires with his strategy. We lacked pace, and the early stop with a long second stint made things difficult. But our pace was an issue,” the German noted.

He is therefore torn between satisfaction and frustration: “It’s good, in a way, because we can fight in the pack. But you quickly get used to good results and want more. I would have liked to fight for points, but we will keep giving it our all.”

Kevin Magnussen finished just behind his teammate in 12th place and is pleased with the strong fight to achieve this result. According to him, this reflects his team’s level, and he is happy to see them consistently near the points.

“I think we had a good day. Nothing came for free as no car ahead had any problems. It’s a 12th place on merit with on-track overtakes, we fought hard. It was a good race, but we started too far back,” noted the Dane, who regrets his qualifying session disrupted by Oscar Piastri.

“I had very bad traffic in Q1; the pace was good, but I couldn’t get a clean lap. Today we showed the pace is there, and we’re gaining competitiveness in the midfield.”