Race Recap: Eifel Grand Prix

Event: Eifel Grand Prix – Sunday October 11
Location: Nürburgring, Germany
Layout: 5.148-kilometer (3.198-mile), 15-turn circuit
Weather: Mostly Cloudy
Air Temps: 8 degrees Celsius (46.4 degrees Fahrenheit)
Track Temps: 17 degrees Celsius (62.6 degrees Fahrenheit)
Race Winner: Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes
Team Result: Romain Grosjean – Started 16th / Finished 9th (Running, completed 60/60 laps)Kevin Magnussen – Started 15th / Finished 13th (Running, completed 60/60 laps)

Recap

Haas F1 Team completed the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix with Romain Grosjean ninth and Kevin Magnussen 13th at the Nürburgring on Sunday.

Grosjean started 16th on Pirelli’s P Zero Yellow medium tires but fell to the back of the field on a frantic first lap. At an atypically cold grand prix Grosjean extended his stint and rose up to 11th position before pitting on lap 29 of 60 for a set of White hard tires. Grosjean returned to the circuit in 15th spot but gained spots to hold 10th position when the safety car was deployed due to an issue for McLaren’s Lando Norris. 

Grosjean took the restart in seventh on harder and older tires than his competitors but held on to a points-paying spot by greeting the checkered flag in ninth. It marked Haas F1 Team’s best result of the 2020 campaign and a return to the top 10 for Grosjean for the first time since Hockenheim last July.

Magnussen took the start on Pirelli’s P Zero Red soft tires and had a customary strong first lap as he rose two positions from 15th to 13th. Magnussen came in for medium tires on lap 14 and emerged in contention for the top 10 positions, pitting again for another set of mediums on lap 36, before joining Grosjean in staying out when the safety car was deployed. 

Magnussen initially maintained his place holding 11th but lost out after rubbing wheels with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and later had to cede position to Alfa Romeo rival Kimi Raikkonen. Magnussen completed the 60 laps in 13th position. 

World Champion Lewis Hamilton controlled proceedings to record his 91st grand prix victory, drawing level with Michael Schumacher atop the all-time list. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was second with Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo third.

Haas F1 Team maintains ninth in the Constructors’ Championship with three points.

Haas F1 Team will be back in action for the Portuguese Grand Prix, to be held at the Algarve International Circuit, from October 23 to 25.  

Romain Grosjean, Driver No. 8, Haas F1 Team

“It feels good – finally. We’ve been doing a good job in the last few races but things haven’t gone our way. I said yesterday that the unexpected was the best we could get. Obviously, we did a different strategy on tires – it was very difficult at the beginning. For us, we have to take risks, if we follow regular strategy we don’t have the raw pace to be up there sadly. We managed to hold on though and go for one stop in the race. It wasn’t really good news for me when the safety car came, but we managed to get some temperature back into the tires and hold on to P9. That was good news. It was a question of time before we got a good result, but I’ve known we’ve been doing a good job.”

Kevin Magnussen, Driver No. 20, Haas F1 Team

“Today was one of those races that gave some opportunities, so missing out on that was disappointing. We were on the wrong strategy, but there was no way to know that before the race. We chose the strategy that we thought was going to give us the best chance – but then the race just didn’t really come our way. I had some early front wing damage as well, so all-in-all it just really wasn’t my day – that’s racing.”

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Haas F1 Team

“It was a happy day today for us. We come away with some points – which is fantastic for the team as they work hard, everybody did a good job. I don’t know if it’s because we had no Friday practice, maybe it made it a more level playing field. Obviously, we got a little bit lucky as a few cars dropped out at the front, I’m conscious of that, but in the end we took the opportunity. It’s a good feeling again to come away with points. Hopefully we can have more of that this year – we’ll keep trying hard for it.”