Haas confirmed his driver pairing for 2024 on Thursday: Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen will remain teammates with the American racing team in the coming year. In the run-up there was a lot of talk about a difficult relationship between the two, but so far the cooperation has been harmonious.
Magnussen is even happy that he will continue to be Hulkenberg’s teammate next year and praises the German: “He’s doing a good job, that’s the most important thing,” he says. “It’s nice to work with an experienced driver and it’s nice to fight against someone who is super fast and who is always at his best both in qualifying and in the race.”
Especially in qualifying, Hülkenberg is clearly ahead of his stable rivals and leads the team duel with 9:3. In the race, the two are evenly matched at 6:6, but the German scored the most points for the team.
Magnussen says he still has a lot to learn from Hulkenberg, which will also improve his own performance. “So I think we have a good driver pairing,” said the Dane. “I work well with Nico and I think we respect each other and can benefit from each other.”
This year, both must work together to bring Haas to at least seventh place in the Constructors’ Championship. They are currently in eighth place, but are only at a disadvantage compared to the Williams team, who have the same number of points.
Does the upgrade solve the tire problems?
At Zandvoort the team will have a new upgrade around the front wing and brake ducts which should help with that. However, Magnussen downplays the importance and says that downforce is not even expected.
Where it should help is to get the problems with the high tire wear under control. “Our tires always get really hot, and part of the upgrade is trying to fix the problem and improve it,” says Magnussen.
“Hopefully that can be an advantage and a big step forward, but as always when you bring an upgrade you also have to do some work and we’ll see how it goes.”
Top of midfield feasible?
Haas hopes to get the problem under control by 2024. Then you look again towards the top of the midfield. But does Haas have everything it takes to pull this off? “I think so,” says Magnussen. “It’s so close that I think every team feels they can do it.”
Aston Martin and McLaren have shown this year that great progress is possible, “but we didn’t make it,” he says. “We kind of got stuck in our development with the car.”
Magnussen emphasizes that the team is generally healthy and in better shape than ever before. “But we just don’t deliver enough on the car.”
“I think we can get all the ingredients together to take a step forward – probably this year, but next year there should be a good chance.”