Nico Hulkenberg is not confident if things will work out for Haas in F1 2024 as eventually they will have to prove it by results on track.
One of the key reasons for Haas to face troubles with the tyre degradation was lack of downforce which Haas’ Hulkenberg stated that they understood it but couldn’t fix it. Even with the new update, they didn’t find it hugely different to the old spec.
Yes, there were certain improvements but not enough to convince the team. “We understand it, but we can’t fix it,” said Hulkenberg. “We would have to address it and fix it with updates, with more downforce, but that was the issue, we didn’t find the downforce unfortunately and that’s why we keep having the tyre issues, sometimes more, sometimes less depending on the track.”
Haas is to overhaul the car in 2024, but the confidence level is still not to that extent for Hulkenberg. He says ultimately it is on them to prove it by results on track. He can’t predict the future at the moment until he sees everything to be working on track.
“I think high confidence is an overtstament now,” said Hulkenberg. “Again it is TBC but it is our responsibility there to influence our thing as much as you can in a positive way. Do our homework better and find the right answers to our problem.
“We have work to do, not insignificantly in that sector [tyre], but also the aero side with the brake drums, with cooling and how efficiently everything works for sure. It is no secret. Am I confident? I am not sure. We have to prove it, it is upto us to do a better job.”
Here’s Kevin Magnussen on return to F1
Here’s Kevin Magnussen on old and new specs
Here’s Nico Hulkenberg on updates needing to be better than being same
Here’s Guenther Steiner explaining on lack of updates
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