MoneyGram Haas F1 Team finished with Nico Hulkenberg 13th, while Kevin Magnussen retired, at the Mexico City Grand Prix, Round 20 of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, held Sunday at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Hulkenberg took the start from 12th on Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires and vaulted up to eighth place on the opening lap. The German came in on lap 23 for White hard tires and held ninth position when the race was halted following an accident for teammate Magnussen. Hulkenberg maintained a spot inside the top 10 after the standing restart on lap 37, opting to use medium tires, and fended off a train of cars until unfortunately relinquishing positions through the closing stages. Hulkenberg nonetheless brought the car home in 13th place at the end of the 71-lap grand prix.
Magnussen started from 16th on the grid on mediums and made up three positions on the opening lap to run in 13th spot. The Dane came in on lap 23, to take on hard tires, but his race came to an end 10 laps later when he suffered a suspected left-rear suspension failure through turn 8. Magnussen suffered a sizeable impact with the barriers but was fortunately able to extricate himself from the wreckage and was given the all-clear after a precautionary visit to the medical center.
Up front Max Verstappen claimed a record-breaking 16th victory in a single season for Red Bull Racing, ahead of Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton and Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Kevin Magnussen:
“I crashed after having a rear left suspension failure. It happened in a bad place and I hit the wall, so I got a knock on my hands and they hurt a little bit, but they’re fine. We have to investigate a bit more what exactly happened as it just gave up. Before that, it was going okay, I was stuck in traffic for a long time and cooked my tires, but I don’t know if whatever caused the failure had an impact for a while beforehand.”
Nico Hulkenberg:
“The tires just dropped away, doing 37 laps was always going to be a long stretch, and on the medium tire it wasn’t possible for us. Unfortunately, we’d already used the hard compound as we were on a one-stop strategy and we didn’t know the red flag was coming. The timing of the red flag was not ideal, and it hurt my race – but more importantly, Kevin is okay. I was hanging in there and annoying other people, I’m sure they got frustrated seeing my rear wing for so long, so that gave me some pleasure.”
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal:
“With Kevin, he had a suspension failure, so we need to dig into why that happened, but it seems to be heat related – we need to check. It was a tough day again, but it’s not all negative. Nico was in a good position to get points, but then with the red flag, which we caused ourselves, we couldn’t keep the tires in the last stint. Our car can’t keep life in the tires as other cars. We could fight for almost the whole distance, but almost isn’t good enough. Otherwise, it seems like the whole team performed well and Nico drove fantastically to try and get something.”
Next Up:
Round 21 of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship is the Sao Paulo Grand Prix at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, Interlagos. Qualifying – Friday November 3. Sprint – Saturday November 4. Race – November 5.
Haas F1 Team PR
