Nico Hulkenberg concluded the first day of free practice in Barcelona with a beautiful and surprising third place, built above all with an excellent first sector, faster even than that of Max Verstappen. An extremely positive result for the American team, which can look to the rest of the weekend with renewed optimism, especially after the bitter weekend in Monaco, where nothing went the right way.
Clearly, as can also be seen from the telemetric data, Hulkenberg’s performance on Friday in Catalonia is also the result of a more advanced mapping, but the fact remains that some interesting aspects have emerged, especially in the interpretation of some curves, even if the general lack of downforce compared to the top teams.
The Barcelona track seems much more suited to the characteristics of the VF-23, which is best expressed in the high and medium speed corners rather than in the slower areas, as we also saw in Monte Carlo. It is no coincidence that the best results of the American team have come on fast tracks, such as Saudi Arabia and Australia.
Nico Hulkenberg, Haas VF-23
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
“Today’s pace was genuine, but clearly I imagine that other riders haven’t given their all, there are many top teams behind us. They will surely find something during the night and they will improve, we have to remain realistic, right now the main objective was to find the rhythm, find a good feeling with the car and I succeeded today”, explained Hulkenberg, underlining a crucial aspect, that of the feeling found with the car, which can make the difference in Barcelona.
“This is the most important aspect for me as a driver. We hope to have a good day tomorrow but it will be very tight again. The fight for Q3, if you see in the midfield there are still four or five teams and we are all fighting for the same position. So it will be a hard and close fight again.”
An interesting aspect is that both Haas drivers have only five sets of softs left, so realistically they will have to give up an attempt in FP3 as the softs don’t last more than a lap: “These tires are good for one lap, the The energy put on the tires is very high here, it’s a track with fast corners, you won’t see more attempts with the same compound. The new softs offer plenty of grip on a lap. Particularly in FP2 I think we have improved performance. In FP1 they weren’t there yet. So I’m satisfied with how it went in FP2 and I hope we can continue like this over the next two days.”
Nico Hulkenberg, Haas VF-23
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
On the last corner, Hulkenberg added an interesting detail: “The last corner is very, very fast. You take it in sixth or seventh gear, it depends on your gearbox. There’s a bump right on entry that also shakes things up, but again, it’s super fast!” explained the German, adding that it might be easier to keep the tires alive until the end of the lap, because the chicane was more grip-sensitive than the current fast section.
Both Haas drivers were eliminated in Q1 of the last race in Monaco, on a track less suited to the characteristics of the VF-23. The Spanish track, on the other hand, seems to better suit the qualities of the car.
“It’s a very different circuit. You can’t compare it to Monaco for even one second. It’s completely different, different tyres, everything is different. When you start from P1 it’s a whole other world,” explained Hulkenberg.
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