Why Nico Hülkenberg is so angry about his performance in Formula 1 qualifying in Austin and what Verstappen and Red Bull’s Perez have to do with it
“Crap! Cheese!” Those are Haas driver Nico Hülkenberg’s first words after Formula One qualifying for the 2023 USA Grand Prix in Austin. Because Hülkenberg is convinced: “So much more could have gone.” In the result, however, the only German is only listed in 16th position among 20 cars.
Hülkenberg retired in the very first segment of time trials at the Circuit of The Americas with a time of 1:36.235 minutes, just 0.022 seconds behind AlphaTauri man Daniel Ricciardo, who just managed to advance.
And Hülkenberg believes: not only could he have easily mustered the speed for Q2, but he “pretty much” could have been in Q3, he tells Sky.
When Hülkenberg stumbled over both Red Bulls
So what went wrong? Hülkenberg explains, “I had both Red Bulls in awkward places on the second lap. Checo [Perez] finished his lap and I started mine, up to turn 1. He went to the inside and visually took away my reference and visibility. And Max [Verstappen] was also later in Sector 1.”
Both scenes “cost time” and “hindered” him on his fast lap, Hülkenberg said. However, he does not directly blame Perez and Verstappen: It was simply “unfortunate timing” and “bad luck,” says Hülkenberg.
It was just “mega frustrating to be out already” because he had “actually felt comfortable up to that point” in the modified Haas VF-23, which is on the road in Austin with a large update package.
What the Haas drivers think of the Austin update
And how good is this update? According to Hülkenberg, it is “still too early” to make a realistic assessment, partly because of the many bumps in Austin. “I’ve never experienced it like this before,” says the Haas driver. “It’s getting more extreme here every year.” This makes it difficult to make a 1:1 comparison with the previous version of the car, he adds.
Kevin Magnussen, the second Haas driver, also “doesn’t want to draw any conclusions” about the update yet. “It needs more time and a few more laps,” says the Dane. Only this much: “I thought there were some positive signs in free practice. Also in Q1. “
Magnussen beats Hülkenberg in qualifying duel
In contrast to Hülkenberg, Magnussen moved into the second round of qualifying, and even did so quite convincingly with P7. In Q2, however, Magnussen was unable to build on this: “Unfortunately, I wasn’t good there,” he admits. He blames this in part on the modified car, which he “still has to get to know”.
But he also simply had “two bad laps” and was more than two tenths away from a place in the top 10. “At one point I almost lost the car in the first sector and I’m actually surprised I didn’t go off,” Magnussen says. His conclusion: “There was clearly more in it in Q2.”
But the decisive factor will be how the VF-23 behaves over the Grand Prix distance on Sunday, “whether the car really handles the tires better,” Magnussen explains. “That’s really what we’re after. Whether we’re faster over one lap or not, that’s not so important. After all, that’s what the previous expansion stage managed to do. “
