Nico Hulkenberg expects Haas F1 Team to face an ‘exciting’ first for the 2024 season during the Japanese GP this Sunday but Suzuka will also cause a ‘difficult’ challenge.
The American squad have enjoyed a fruitful start to the season this year after scoring points in two of the first three rounds. Haas even registered a double points-scoring finish last time out at the Australian GP as Hulkenberg secured P9 and Kevin Magnussen came home in P10.
Great teamwork from Magnussen to hold the field back also helped Hulkenberg to finish the Saudi Arabian GP in P10. The 36-year-old has now taken points in more Grand Prix this year than in 2023 at 2-1. Magnussen registered his three points last term with three P10 finishes.
Nico Hulkenberg expects the 2024 Japanese GP to teach Haas an ‘exciting’ lesson
Haas will now hope to continue their fruitful season as Formula 1 returns to the Land of the Rising Sun. But the 2023 Japanese GP was not a fruitful event for Haas with Hulkenberg and Magnussen the last of the classified finishers in P14 and P15 at last September’s race meet.
A naïve attempted overtake by Sergio Perez hindered Magnussen’s race as the Red Bull pilot crashed into the 31-year-old. But Haas were not a competitive outfit when F1 visited Suzuka, with Magnussen qualifying in P15 and Hulkenberg in P18 from the 19 drivers to record a lap.
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Qualifying was not Haas’ main issue when Formula 1 last visited Suzuka, however, as the VF-23 hindered Hulkenberg and Magnussen’s race efforts by destroying its tyres. The car often tore through its Pirellis to leave their drivers facing an uphill battle to finish near to the points.
Nico Hulkenberg believes Suzuka will make one thing ‘difficult’
Haas have made great progress in controlling their tyre degradation in 2024 but Hulkenberg thinks the picture is still cloudy. So, the German believes the track surface and circuit layout at Suzuka will give the American squad greater clarity of their actual progress this weekend.
He explained, via Speedweek “Suzuka is a mixture of low-speed, medium-speed and high-speed [corners]. It may be the first time this year that we have been on a track with high degradation. So, it will be exciting for us to find out where we really stand in relation to that.”
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Hulkenberg also expects the challenges of Suzuka can make qualifying difficult for Haas on Saturday. While the Emmerich am Rhein native secured a Q3 slot at the Bahrain GP, the best they could achieve at the Saudi Arabian GP and the Australian GP was Q2 with P13 and P14.
“The track is classic and definitely iconic,” he continued. “It is technical and challenging. It will be difficult to get a perfect lap in qualifying, that’s what makes it interesting.”
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