United States Grand Prix: Sprint Race / Qualifying Recap

Magnussen finished seventh at the checkered, collecting two crucial points, with Hulkenberg directly behind his teammate in eighth to score the final point on offer – the Sprint format only rewarding the top eight finishers with points. While now tied on 34 points apiece with RB, MoneyGram Haas F1 Team earns the nod for sixth place in the teams’ battle courtesy of higher finishing positions.

Having started the Sprint race with Hulkenberg sixth on the grid and Magnussen eighth – both on Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires, at the end of lap one it was the Dane leading the charge in seventh while the German had dropped to ninth. By lap seven Hulkenberg had disposed of RB’s Yuki Tsunoda to ensure MoneyGram Haas F1 Team held P7 and P8 – the teammates comfortably holding station in the final two points paying positions through to the race’s end. At the front, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen claimed the Sprint victory ahead of Scuderia Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

Saturday afternoon then saw Magnussen and Hulkenberg turn their attention to qualifying for the United States Grand Prix – securing ninth and 12th respectively on the grid for Sunday’s main race – both cars now running the update package on the VF-24 having been trialed solely by Hulkenberg through to qualifying.

Hulkenberg’s qualifying charge came to an end in Q2 – a best lap of 1:33.544 on the Red soft compound earning P12 on the grid. Magnussen steered his way through to Q3, always in the top 10 through each session, but was left to wonder what might have been at the end following a late yellow caution for an off by the Mercedes of George Russell – the Dane aborting what would have been his fastest Q3 lap on fresh softs. Magnussen claimed P9 with his banker lap on a used set of softs – a 1:33.481. Lando Norris claimed the pole in his McLaren with a fast lap of 1:32.330.



Nico Hulkenberg:

“I got a poor start, and also being on the inside didn’t help, so I lost two positions. Afterwards, we were racing and spent quite a bit of time behind Yuki, so I lost a bit of my tire there but nonetheless we did alright in the end. All in all it was a great team performance; it’s three points and It’s great to get them on Saturday. The car felt okay in qualifying but unfortunately my laps in Q2 were not great, not clean and both times I got caught off guard at Turn 1. It’s a nasty one when you start sliding there as you lose a lot of time, so that’s the cause of why I got knocked out in Q2.  I think the performance is there, that’s not the issue, so that’s very promising and tomorrow we just need to stay clean and do a good job.”

Kevin Magnussen:

“This was an important one for us. We were three points behind RB and now we’re on par with them, and because Nico scored P6 twice earlier in the year, we’re actually ahead of them. We need to keep this going as you never know when you’re going to be this competitive again; we hope to be over the next races, but we have to make the most of it and we certainly did in the Sprint today. Due to the yellow flag my qualifying time is from a used soft. I had a fantastic lap on the new, but in the last sector with the yellow flag we had to abort it although I was three or four tenths up with still two corners to go. The times that we see from Piastri aren’t impossible, so annoyed with that of course, but that’s how it goes sometimes. It’s great to be able to bolt the upgrade on the car and have it work, I think that’s a really big positive, and I’m looking forward to racing it tomorrow.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal:

“It was a really good day in terms of the Sprint, I think P7 and P8 was the maximum we could achieve, and we delivered that. We updated Kevin’s car for qualifying and to be fair, Kevin adapted to it very well, as he went straight into it with a different car so to speak. But he dealt with it well, he built up and was very unlucky in Q3 to have the yellow flag. He definitely would’ve had P8 in the bag, maybe more, but it was good. Nico had so much potential, especially looking at sector three it was very strong, but he locked up twice into Turn 1, so that was his issue. Our race pace is good, so tomorrow the focus is getting both cars into the points.”

Today's Data:

Event: Sprint Race / Qualifying for the United States Grand Prix – Saturday October 19
Location: Circuit of The Americas, Austin
Layout: 5.513-kilometer (3.426-mile), 20-turn circuit 
Weather: Sunny
Air Temps: 28 degrees Celsius (82.4 degrees Fahrenheit)
Track Temps: 39 degrees Celsius (102.2 degrees Fahrenheit)

Sprint Race Rundown (19 laps):

Magnussen: 7th overall (2pts)
Hulkenberg: 8th overall (1pt)
Sprint Winner: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing

Q1 Qualifying: 18-mins with all Drivers – Top 15 Advance to Q2

Magnussen: 7th overall (1:33.564) – Advanced to Q2
Hulkenberg: 8th overall (1:33.601) – Advanced to Q2
Fastest: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:33.046)

Q2 Qualifying: 15-mins – Top 10 Advance to Q3

Magnussen: 10th overall (1:33.474) – Advanced to Q3
Hulkenberg: 12th overall (1:33.544) 
Fastest: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:32.584)

Q3 Qualifying: 12-mins – Top 10 Drivers

Magnussen: 9th overall (1:33.481) 
Pole Winner: Lando Norris of McLaren Racing (1:32.330)