Has the Haas command post squandered a point for the Formula 1 race in Imola? Nico Hülkenberg questions early pit stop
With eleventh place in the Formula 1 Grand Prix at Imola, Nico Hülkenberg narrowly missed out on the final point. The German was able to work his way up from tenth on the grid on the first lap to eighth place, but a strategy error by the American team dashed his hopes of scoring points
An early pit stop by Fernando Alonso on lap seven triggered a whole series of undercuts throughout the midfield. For Hülkenberg, the pit stop of Racing Bulls driver Daniel Ricciardo on lap eleven was decisive. The Australian was around three seconds behind the Haas driver in eleventh place, but the command post did not react a lap later.
Racing Bulls had actually planned to force Hülkenberg to make an early stop with Ricciardo in order to make an overcut with Yuki Tsunoda. However, as Haas did not bring Hülkenberg in, the Italian team took the opportunity to make an undercut with Tsunoda, who subsequently passed Hülkenberg. After the missed timing, however, they could still have switched to an overcut, which they did not do at Haas.
Despite strategy error: Haas “didn’t have enough speed “
“We’ll have to look at that again later,” says the German about the strategy after the race. “It felt strange at first because we came in very early. And I also ran out of tires at the end. Probably wouldn’t have made much difference in the end.”
Sky expert Timo Glock believes that tenth place would have been possible with a better strategy: “That was a shame. He was on course for tenth place for a long time. It wasn’t enough in the end. In hindsight, you have to analyze the strategy. He fought, but unfortunately wasn’t able to take the point. So now he has to hope for Monaco.”
The fact that Hülkenberg was even in a position to have a chance of scoring points is down to a very good start. The German was able to overtake both Racing Bulls heading into turn two. “I had a good start, a good first lap,” said the 35-year-old. “But after that, I just didn’t have enough speed. “
“I struggled with the balance in the car and couldn’t really get into the rhythm, into a good harmony. I was a bit worried about that. It went better over one lap, but unfortunately not quite as well in the long run. We simply lacked a bit of speed. We were undercut by Yuki [Tsunoda]. We might have to look at that again. In the end, there wasn’t much speed left. “
What do the new Haas updates bring?
However, the performance in the race shows that Haas seems to have made progress with the updates in Imola. However, Racing Bulls has now gained the upper hand in the midfield, while the other teams have fallen back somewhat.
When asked how well the new parts are working, Hülkenberg says: “It’s hard to say. Miami felt like a completely different race. We’re not far away from the Racing Bulls, but we’re still some way off. And of course a long way from the rest. We have to let it sink in again, also understand better now with all the racing action and the data, how the updates behave.”
Nico Hülkenberg’s great strength, his pace in qualifying, will be in demand at the upcoming race weekend in Monaco. Overtaking in the Principality is considered virtually impossible, so qualifying well up front is crucial. The Haas of the 2024 season has also become better in slow corners compared to last year’s car, possibly a good omen
