Haas and Hülkenberg are doing well and, to the delight of the German, “are annoying a lot of big names” – but he will soon be leaving the team and will have to start from scratch with Sauber.
Haas is increasingly becoming the top contender of the top teams in the midfield: the US racing team was able to post in Austin for the fourth time in a row, and for the fifth time if you count the sprint in Texas, where both Haas drivers earned championship points.
The logical consequence of the recent consistency: the team has also made a small leap in the overall standings and is now two points ahead of the Racing Bulls in sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship. But where does the sudden upturn in Nico Hülkenberg’s team come from all of a sudden?
“We’re just in a good flow. Of course, a few things have been changed on the technical side over the winter, and the work is just running much smoother,” the German explains on Sky, adding: ‘In terms of the processes,’ but also ‘the communication between the departments,’ things are now going much better than in the past.
“I think it’s just because we changed a few things over the winter, and it’s running smoother. I mean, development is going well this year. Whenever we bring updates, they bear fruit, and something really happens to the car.” Not every update is a complete success, “but at least something has been done and changed,” says Hülkenberg.
No comparison to the situation in his first Haas season in 2023: “Last year was really dull in comparison. Things are just better, smoother, more efficient, and the platform we started with in Bahrain was just much, much better – 200 percent better than last year, which of course allowed us to just race much better.”
Hülkenberg proud: “We are annoying many big names”
The consistency of this brings a smile to the lips of the Emmericher: “It’s nice, it’s important, and of course it makes everyone proud that we, as a small team, with a smaller budget and fewer resources, are already annoying and sometimes beating many big names. It’s fun,” grins Hülkenberg on ServusTV. The team’s sporting situation is significantly improved and positive compared to twelve months ago, explains the German.
That’s why Hülkenberg predicts that the team will be able to consolidate this performance in the long term: “I think Haas will have to be taken into account in midfield in the next few years, now also with the Toyota alliance,” he says in reference to the newly formed technical partnership with the Japanese automotive giant: “With the reinforcement of that, I think they are well on their way.”
But doesn’t it worry him personally that he is leaving the team at the end of the season for Sauber, which is currently bottom of the league? Hülkenberg assures us that this is not an issue for him: “For me, everything is set, everything is fine,” he explains, and again cites the “example of Haas: the same will happen to Sauber next year. They need a winter, and next year it has to be different, just like with Haas.”
Then “the cards will be reshuffled,” believes Hülkenberg, and explains with a view to his new task: “There is no doubt, I am fully committed.” However, with the certainty that he will have to do the same groundwork with the engineers in the future Audi works team that seems to be bearing fruit at Haas…