Haas

Hulkenberg started ninth but picked off rival Gasly at the start. He also made his way past an ailing Verstappen early on to run seventh. Seventh is where he stayed, with enough straight-line speed to keep a decent gap to a chasing Verstappen late on. That result earned Haas two points, increasing their gap to Alpine in the constructors’. Add in the fact that Magnussen improved from P15 on the grid to 10th at the flag, and there is much to be optimistic about.

There was a role reversal in qualifying, as Hulkenberg went out in Q1 with the team admitting to a mix up with his last run. Magnussen flew the flag for Haas after that, making it all the way to Q3 as he chases more points to keep Haas ahead of Alpine.

Nico Hulkenberg – Sprint: 7th, Qualifying: 18th, 1:22.442

“It’s a nice feeling to get points already on a Saturday, which is not a normal, or a given for us, so we’ll definitely take them. It was a competitive race, the pace was strong and solid, and it was good to be able to keep that Red Bull behind. In qualifying there was a technical issue regarding energy management around the lap – we didn’t have full deployment. We didn’t have full energy on the push lap which is very costly around here, so that’s why we’re out in Q1. We’ll try to make progress and recover as much as possible but racing and overtaking here is very difficult. You’ve seen this morning racing is quite static, but we’ll give it our best shot tomorrow.”

Kevin Magnussen – Sprint: 10th, Qualifying: 10th, 1:21.500

“I think it was almost the best we could’ve done in the Sprint, I think we could’ve got Gasly but it was marginal. I got DRS but I think our starting position ruined any chance of scoring points, however P10 is close to that. It was good to get into Q3 in qualifying, I’m a little bit annoyed with my mistake into turn 10 as that was that, so there could have been one more position in it. I’m still pretty happy with the starting position, it’s a long way tomorrow, so hopefully we can have the pace again like we did in the Sprint and score some points. The important thing is we’ve qualified ahead of Alpine and RB – that’s the target – Gasly is right behind me starting on the clean side of the grid so it’s going to be a tight battle.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“Unfortunately, it was a mixed qualifying session, but on the positive side Kevin did a really good job getting into Q3. He was struggling yesterday a little bit, and by his own admission he said he didn’t get the best out of the car at all. He had a pretty decent Sprint and adjusted his driving a little bit, so I’m happy for Kevin. His used tyre run in Q3 was mega but on his final run on the new tyre he had a big moment and lost time, but I’m not saying it’s his fault, it looks like it’s more wind, so he was just unlucky.

“On Nico’s side, his feeling in the car wasn’t too bad but why he was out in Q1 has nothing to do with him. We were in the wrong mode on his slow lap and didn’t realize it, and that’s not acceptable as a team but we’re dealing with that as he lost half a second. He’s unfortunately P18, but we saw from the Sprint how much pace he’s got, so even though he’s P18 we’re going to try and find a way to get him into the points.

“Our Sprint performance was amazing, we were focused on beating our direct competitors, and Nico had a pretty decent start. Once Max overtook Gasly we accepted we weren’t fighting him, but Nico’s pace was strong and he stayed ahead of Max on merit, which is a huge positive. Kevin started P15 and drove aggressively for the first half of the Sprint and his pace was there also, so it was really positive this morning to get two points.”