Nico Hülkenberg got the Haas back into Q3 at Monza for the first time in four races – but the tires didn’t work as planned
Three zero laps in a row followed Nico Hülkenberg’s brilliant sixth places in Austria and Great Britain. In Monza, the Haas driver seems to have legitimate hopes of a top 10 finish again. He made it through to Q3 in qualifying, even if he didn’t make it past last place there
“I think we showed our potential yesterday and this morning,” he sums up with satisfaction. “We stayed clean and made good progress during qualifying. It wasn’t quite perfect, but it’s nice to be back in Q3.”
As he hints, there was a strange problem with his Haas VF-24, which worked better on used tires than on fresh ones: “Somehow my attempts felt better and more efficient on used tires. We’ll have to look at that tonight when we prepare for the race. “
With the fresh Pirellis, there was not the expected jump in lap times. “They were difficult to read,” says the 37-year-old about the tires. “Before qualifying, our outlaps were slower. In qualifying, we have to stick to minimum times [on the outlap].”
“That’s why I was worried that the tires were too hot. But somehow I had the feeling in the first chicane that they were too cold. They had no grip. So it’s a bit of a mixed bag, to be honest.” He believes he could have caught Alex Albon with a better variant Rettifilo.
Hülkenberg is not the only driver who is puzzled by the behavior of the tires on asphalt. Many drivers complained over the weekend about difficulties getting the fresh surface to work with the tires
Cautious optimism for the race
On the positive side, however, Haas is showing a clear upward trend. “Quite different to Zandvoort,” notes Hülkenberg. “It was nice to be able to work well with the car for once. We had much more consistent conditions than in Zandvoort, just dry and hot. This continuity helps.”
“But the package is also working well. Tomorrow we have to see where we stand in terms of top speed. Yesterday we were quite slow at a certain time, but this morning we looked fast. I don’t know what the others have done in terms of downforce. We’ll see tomorrow.”
“I don’t want to go too far out on a limb, but it looks promising. We have a better grip on the car. I think the new tarmac will also suit us. Normally, our car doesn’t like old asphalt that much.”
Colapinto and Magnussen are off!
Both are pushing hard on their final laps and find the gravel.F1 ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/VoEOScQXIj
– Formula 1 (@F1) August 31, 2024
He doesn’t want to commit to points yet: “We’re starting tenth. Of course, you always want to at least maintain and defend this grid position. I think the fast cars are all ahead of us and the top eight are actually booked unless something extraordinary happens. We will certainly have to fight with Williams and Aston.” The Formula 1 midfield is known to be very tight
Magnussen with a moment of shock behind Colapinto
Kevin Magnussen missed out on Q3 in 13th place. The Dane was even lucky not to get stuck in Q1: “The Williams [Franco Colapinto] went off the track in front of me and there was dust everywhere. I didn’t know whether he was on or off the track – I just couldn’t see anything. That’s why the lap was ruined.”
With his first lap, he made it into Q2 in 14th place, but that was the end of the line. “It’s very important to catch a slipstream here and I went out behind the two Alpine riders. But they let me past and so I was without a slipstream. That’s what I needed for Q3 in the end, but P13 is not that far away from the top 10. There’s still a long way to go from there.”
Team Principal Ayao Komtsu would also have liked to have seen Magnussen in Q3: “We wanted to get both cars into Q3, but we didn’t quite manage that. But we can count ourselves lucky that his first attempt in Q1 was good enough. Overall, it was a satisfying day with grid positions ten and 13 on a track where you can overtake. “
