Nico Hülkenberg had actually expected to make it into Q3 and had even saved tyres for it – The reality is 15th place and track limits
Nico Hülkenberg actually wanted to make it into Q3 in qualifying in Qatar (Formula 1 2023 live in the ticker), but with 15th place the Haas driver missed this goal by a relatively wide margin. The German was half a second off the top 10, which he had achieved in practice with seventh place. But Hülkenberg was unable to match the afternoon’s form in qualifying.
“We expected a bit more from ourselves,” he admits in an interview with Sky. Just how great the expectations were can be seen from the fact that Haas took an unusually long time to set a first lap in Q1: Hülkenberg only took to the track for the first time ten minutes before the end of the session.
Haas wanted to save tyres in order to then give themselves a better chance of a good result in Q3 with a new tyre. “But then in Q2 it wasn’t enough in the end. We didn’t find enough speed compared to the others,” said an annoyed Hülkenberg, who had expected a much dirtier track because the wind would blow sand onto the track again.
“But I think it kept within limits,” he says.
Like many other drivers, Hülkenberg was a victim of the track limits on his fastest lap in Q2. In turn 5, the Haas driver went off the track, so that his lap time was cancelled.
The wind, in particular, made it difficult to stick to the track limits, as he says: “The wind is a difficult constant,” he says. “It’s very inconsistent in parts, unpredictable when you catch a gust or the gust catches the car and then you struggle.”
Although Hülkenberg’s fastest lap was cancelled, it didn’t really have an impact. Even if the time had counted, he would have been a long way off Q3. But at least he would have been in 14th place, ahead of Alexander Albon.
“My track limits in Q2 made a place difference in the end, so it was a cheap mistake,” he says, annoyed. But: “We just didn’t have enough speed. “
It was even worse for teammate Kevin Magnussen, who only finished 19th and is now 5:12 behind in the qualifying duels. The Dane didn’t cope too well with the fact that he didn’t race here in 2021 (as, incidentally, did Hülkenberg).
“It’s a new track for me and I found it a bit more difficult to learn than I had hoped,” he admits. “The track is quite difficult to drive and it took me a while to master it.”
“So I still have a lot of lap time to find. We still have a long weekend ahead of us and of course we are disappointed with P19, but we will try to improve in the next session,” he says.
Because Saturday already offers the next chance for the drivers, because the next session will be another qualifying: namely the shootout for the sprint. Then all drivers in SQ1 and SQ2 will have to drive with medium tyres. “Let’s see how that works,” says Hülkenberg.
“I’m actually in a good mood, optimistic,” he says. “I like the track a lot, it has a cool flow. It’s fun to drive here and it’s dynamic and fast, so I’m looking forward to more. “
