Formula 1 | First lap and strategy ruin Haas F1 hopes

Nothing really worked out for Haas and especially for Kevin Magnussen this Sunday in Barcelona.

The Dane’s race was simply devastated on the first lap by an incident with Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes. Without that, the Dane could probably have aimed for a finish not far from the top 10 but still it was necessary to take fewer risks perhaps…

“I was on the outside and got hit in Turn 4, got a puncture straight away and that was basically the end of the race. I think we were on a difficult strategy because of the first lap incident, but when the tires were a bit new the car was good. It’s time for the next race. »

Mick Schumacher again failed to enter the top 10. And yet he was 6th at the end of the first lap! But his tumble (14th lap) can be explained by a bad strategy, Haas having persisted in a strategy with two pit stops.

“It’s quite unfortunate. Obviously we knew it was going to be tight with the two pit stops and it didn’t pay off to stay out, so it’s something to learn, something to understand going forward. It was a great Saturday, and we had a very clean Friday too, which is very beneficial. We had a good start, a good first lap and that’s all you want today. Maybe the pace wasn’t there today, but hopefully it will be next week, so we’ll keep pushing. »

Günther Steiner pouted: even with two cars in Q3, Haas failed to register any units and remained stuck in 8th place in the constructors’ standings despite a good burst of speed.

“The day did not go as planned. There were several things, first of all the contact between Kevin and [Lewis] Hamilton in Turn 4 which really knocked him out. With him, we just tried to have a strategy that would allow us to do something if something strange happened, but it didn’t work. »

“With Mick it was a difficult race, it was a very good start, and everything went well, but after six laps we lost a few positions, and then the race got away from us. This is not what was planned, but we continue to move forward. »