Haas retain Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen for their F1 2024 Championship campaign
Haas have already declared their line-up for next year and the fans will get to see some familiar faces drive for the American squad.
Follow Us
Haas have confirmed their line-up for next year and it seems that the American squad wants to opt for continuity this time. In the last three years, Guenther Steiner, the Team Principal at Haas, has changed their recruits thrice. Once the 2020 season was over, Haas let go of both Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean to take up rookie racers Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher. But that was hardly the end of Haas’ attempt at bringing an overhaul in the team’s performance.
At the beginning of the 2022 season, in an abrupt announcement, it was declared that Haas is severing ties with their principal sponsor Uralkali and they were also releasing Nikita Mazepin from their contract. This was done in the middle of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Mazepin later filed a lawsuit against the team as he said Haas have not paid him his entire salary. In place of the Russian, Guenther Steiner took up their previously dismissed racer Kevin Magnussen.
Magnussen improved leaps and bounds once he was back at Haas. He outperformed some heavyweight rivals like Mercedes’ Bottas, Ocon and Alonso to secure the fifth spot at the Bahrain GP. When 2022 was over, Haas once again announced they would be changing their line-up, releasing Mick Schumacher this time. They hired Nico Hulkenberg in the junior Schumacher’s place. But now, it has been confirmed that the American team will retain the same line-up for next year.
Related: Sergio Perez reveals the root cause of his drop in performance amidst sabotage conspiracies
Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg have both excelled at Haas
In the first 12 races of 2023, both Magnussen and Hulkenberg have given some considerably good performances. The German has reached the Q3 segment in six Qualifying Sessions out of 12. And at the Australian GP, he scored Haas’ best finish of this year till now–P7. On the other hand, Kevin Magnussen scored a top-10 finish in the season’s second Grand Prix in Saudi Arabia, and repeated the feat in Miami.
As for the overall performance of Haas, they are now tied with Williams for the seventh spot in the World Constructors’ Championship with 11 points each. But the difference between Haas and Alpine is quite a big one, with a 46 point-wide gap that Hulkenberg and Magnussen have to cross to get to the sixth place in the points table. Now, it only remains to be seen if the two experienced racers can take on this challenge, or if they succumb to the speed of the French squad of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon.
In case you missed it:
Stay Updated!
Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)