Season Look Back: Haas invites Rising Stars Raoul Hyman and Lochie Hughes to Miami Grand Prix
December 12, 2023
During the second running of the Miami Grand, May 5 – 7, America’s Formula 1 team invited the Formula Regional Americas Championship Powered by Honda (FR Americas) and Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda (F4 U.S.) 2022 championship-winning drivers, Raoul Hyman and Lochie Hughes, to get their first taste of the pinnacle of motorsport.
Hyman and Hughes went behind the scenes with MoneyGram Haas F1 Team at the first race of the season on home turf, meeting drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg, Team Principal Guenther Steiner, and quizzed Senior Race Engineer Gary Gannon.
“First we sat down with Gary Gannon and he ran us through what they were doing throughout the day,” said Hyman. “We were able to ask him a couple of questions, including how they approach the weekend, so that gave us a really good idea of what to expect.
“It was nice because he actually asked us about our careers, too,” Hyman continued. “I asked him about the driving styles of their two drivers and he spoke a bit about Nico’s style, specifically. He explained that he’s more controlled on entry and then prioritizes mid and exit; it’s a more technical style and makes sense with how he’s been able to get into so many different cars and still perform.”
The two juniors went on to meet with Guenther during another busy weekend for the home team.
“Walking through the Formula 1 paddock, every single person you look at is someone you’ve seen on TV, so just to be there mingling with them was awesome,” Hughes said. “For us to spend time with everyone, talking about the cars and learning a thing or two, was really special. With Guenther, we talked about just normal stuff, but also how his life has changed since Drive To Survive. I did ask him if they were looking for a driver but he said they had them all locked in. One thing that really surprised me was how much he knew about other series and just what’s going on in the racing world. It was really cool. His advice to us was basically to just keep winning.”
With very few opportunities to meet and ask with F1 drivers about their advice, Kevin and Nico Then, it was back to the Haas F1 Team Garage to meet with drivers Magnussen and Hülkenberg.
“Getting to meet Kevin [Magnussen] and Nico [Hulkenberg] when they were both so busy was really cool,” said Hughes. “We had a quick chat about INDYCAR and how different the INDYCAR race car is from the F1 car. They specifically told us about the difference in how heavy the steering is in INDYCAR because those cars don’t have power steering.”