Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen finished the Austrian Grand Prix with a sensational result: Together they added 12 points to Haas’s World Championship standings. “That brought us back into the race for seventh place in the World Championship, I couldn’t be happier,” said Magnussen, delighted with the team’s best result in the 2024 Formula 1 season. Haas had not only fought its way past Alpine, but had also extended its lead over the French by 10 points. Hülkenberg secured particularly valuable points in the hotly contested rear field with his sixth place in the Formula 1 race in Spielberg.
The German had not expected this at all, which is why he is all the happier about the result. Lando Norris’s retirement after the collision with Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc’s wing damage, which sent the Ferrari to the back of the field on the opening lap, did contribute to Haas increasing their points tally. Hülkenberg stressed the importance of exploiting opportunities: “Of course the retirement of two top cars helped us, but you have to be ready when such opportunities arise and we were there with both cars today.”
Nico Hülkenberg with impressive turnaround at the Austrian GP
Hülkenberg probably managed the biggest turnaround of all over the sprint weekend in Austria, because on Friday he still had great problems finding the rhythm and confidence in the car. According to Hülkenberg, he would have been at a disadvantage in the sprint qualifying. But from the sprint on Saturday morning, his feeling in the car improved steadily, so that in qualifying he finally found the rhythm and confidence, hit the lap and secured 9th place on the grid for today’s race.
“It’s just important to have a good qualifying time, to start at the front and to have clean air. That allows you to be flexible, play a little with the strategy and save the tires,” said Hülkenberg.
From P9, Hülkenberg only dropped back one position on the starting lap. However, he regained this position from Esteban Ocon on lap 2 and then only aimed for the way forward. He described his race as very intense – especially in the duel with the Red Bull driver Sergio Perez at the end. “I didn’t expect to be able to keep him behind me for so long. But I wanted to try it for a few laps and see what would happen. I thought maybe he would damage his tires a bit. That actually worked and I was able to stay in front and defend myself thanks to our good straight-line speed. In the end it got really close and it was just a matter of survival. I wouldn’t have lasted another lap. It was good, tough and fair racing,” said Hülkenberg enthusiastically.
Attack in the heat of the moment: Hülkenberg and Magnussen deliver thrilling Haas duel
The only critical situation for the Haas team occurred after the first pit stops by Magnussen and Hülkenberg. Both of them had to change tires from mediums to hards early in the race. Magnussen opened the first pit stop phase on lap 11, Hülkenberg followed on lap 12. On the one lap that the Dane came in earlier, he almost managed to undercut his teammate and a thrilling duel ensued between the two Haas drivers on the track. Magnussen was initially able to overtake his teammate, but on lap 14 Hülkenberg regained his position. After the race, he criticized the team’s lack of instructions in this situation.
There was no bad blood between the Haas colleagues after the race. “It was just the heat of the moment. I attacked him when he came out of the pit lane and then he counterattacked,” Magnussen explained the battle within the team. After Hülkenberg’s overtaking maneuver, the matter was over for him. The German sees it the same way: “We will talk about it now and it will be OK.”
Haas surprises: On par with Red Bull
After the second pit stops by Magnussen on lap 39 and Hülkenberg on lap 40 for a fresh set of hard tyres, both were one lap behind the leader for several laps Max Verstappen, who was still driving on old tires at the time, and were able to keep up with his pace in the slipstream. Both Haas drivers agree, however, that the world champion did not pull them along so much as hinder them in this phase of the race: “Nico was held up, I caught up with him and so we were both in the slipstream and our tires overheated,” Magnussen described the problem.
Hülkenberg also noted that he lost some downforce while following behind. “But I don’t think it affected our race,” said the German. Lapping back himself would not have been an option for him: “I would have had to push so hard and invest too many tires. That would have cost us dearly in the end.” In addition, Haas’ pace was only on par with Red Bull because of the large tire delta, because Verstappen already had very worn tires in the late phase of his second stint, said Hülkenberg.
Haas did beat a Red Bull on the track, although this was not entirely possible without the help of Perez, who received a five-second penalty for driving too fast in the pit lane. Lando Norris’s retirement shortly before the end of the race also meant that both Haas drivers moved up a further place.
Nevertheless, it is a respectable success for the US customer team. Both drivers were in the points throughout the race, even without the mistakes and failures of the drivers ahead of them. “This weekend we confirmed that we are part of the midfield. We are competitive on different tracks,” said Hülkenberg, praising the team’s wonderful performance. After narrowly missing out on the points five times in the first ten races, finishing 11th, he sees Haas fighting for points more often from now on.
His teammate Magnussen is a little more cautious about the rest of the season: “I don’t think it’s a breakthrough, it’s just a good weekend. We still have a lot of work to do, but that was a good points haul.” The Dane already showed in the sprint race on Saturday that he can drive on a par with Alpine and Perez.
For Haas, the sprint race already gave the first signs of their strong performance this weekend. Lando Norris, on the other hand, was annoyed about missing out on victory again. The highlights of Saturday can be found here in the video: