F1
Haas, the other surprise of the weekend in Bahrain?
5th in Bahrain in 2022, can Haas repeat the feat in 2023? © Xavi Bonilla / DPPI
Passed almost unnoticed behind the excitement around Fernando Alonso, the performance of Haas et Nico Hulkenberg during Free Practice 2 also has something to impress. The German set the 5th fastest time on the Sakhir circuit (Bahrain) aboard the VF-23, less than 5 tenths behind the Spaniard. “I would have liked to keep a few tenths in my pocket to be honest, joked the ghost F1. It's a one-lap pace... it's good, and it's fun, it's nice, but... Sunday, that's obviously where the goal is and I feel like that's where we have a lot of work to do”
The 35-year-old driver is aware that although the Haas is fast on a lap, it is still struggling with race pace. “It's fun when you have fresh rubber and you have a lot of grip, that's when a Formula 1 car really comes to life and you can play with it, it's just dynamic and fun to spin it around. But like I said, on the long stints, there is still work to do”, added the German.
Haas in the footsteps of its own exploit
Nico Hülkenberg will obviously have his teammate's successful comeback in mind Kevin Magnussen in 2022. The Dane, who was making his return to F1 after a year on the sidelines, took an incredible 5th place for the opening round, again in Bahrain. The latter was also satisfied with the performance of the VF-23 around the Bahraini track, despite its 16th place during FP2. “We tried, we tested a lot of things, confides the Haas driver. I think we had a good test [Friday] and some of the things the team was working on between the winter tests and here we tried them today and we got some answers. »
In addition Aston Martin, can Haas be the other surprise of the weekend? Optimism is present on the side of the American team, through its main director, Günther Steiner. “Nico has done a really good job and Kevin has been working around some more set-up changes, and I think there's more to come from him tomorrow, hopes the Italian engineer. I hope it will be a good day, but overall we are making good progress in learning the car. The car is very reliable, which is a plus. »
Qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix will be followed from 16 p.m. in live text on AUTOhebdo.
ALSO READ > The program for the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix
Dorian Grangier
A young journalist nostalgic for the motorsport of yesteryear. Raised on the exploits of Sébastien Loeb and Fernando Alonso.
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