United States Grand Prix: Sprint Recap

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen finished Saturday’s 19-lap United States Grand Prix Sprint in 15th and 18th place respectively at the Circuit of The Americas.

Both drivers started the Sprint deep in the 20-car field after a frustrating Sprint Shootout earlier in the day – where both VF-23s were knocked out in SQ1 – Hulkenberg qualifying P16 with Magnussen directly behind in P17.

Magnussen made the better of the starts at the beginning of the Sprint, climbing to P14 with Hulkenberg P16 after the opening lap. They maintained position for the first third of the race, running in the DRS train with Aston Martin pairing of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso.

As tire wear kicked in Magnussen ceded P15 to Hulkenberg and the Dane ultimately fell back to P19 – regaining a spot as Stroll retired shortly before the checkered flag. Hulkenberg held on to P15 valiantly until the closing stages when he lost position to the AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda – the German, like the rest of the midfield, benefitting from Stroll’s exit from the Sprint to be promoted back up to P15 by race end.

At the head of the pack Sprint Shootout winner Max Verstappen steered his Red Bull Racing to a trouble-free victory.

Kevin Magnussen, MoneyGram Haas F1 Team

Kevin Magnussen:

“It wasn’t a great Sprint, the pace dropped off a lot, so we’ll investigate tonight and assess what we think. We can’t change anything for tomorrow, so it is what it is, and we’ll see what we can do. I got a decent start and a decent first lap, then stayed there for a few laps before the well-known cycle of getting overtaken and the tires dropping off started.”

Nico Hulkenberg:

“It feels like the first real running with the car to be honest because in practice there’s so many things going on. Then, there were just two qualifying sessions which were also short, just two runs each time, or less. It’s good to get some proper mileage with it, some long-run data and some feel for it. Obviously, it doesn’t look too good right now, but there’s more for us to analyze and understand, and more to discover with this package. At a Sprint weekend it’s difficult to explore that and unlock it.”

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal

“It didn’t go to plan today. We’ve got more work to do but initially we’re not very happy with what’s happened, so we have to see how we tackle tomorrow. We found a few things and went in the wrong direction, but it’s difficult to jump to a conclusion after one practice, two qualifying sessions and one short race. But at the moment, we have to find more as the upgrade’s not done what we expected.”

Today's Data

Event: Sprint Race at the United States Grand Prix – Saturday October 21
Location: Circuit of The Americas, Austin
Layout: 5.513-kilometer (3.426-mile), 20-turn circuit
Weather: Cloudy
Air Temps: 33 degrees Celsius (91.4 degrees Fahrenheit)
Track Temps: 36 degrees Celsius (96.8 degrees Fahrenheit)
Team Result: Nico Hulkenberg – Started Sprint 16^th / Finished 15^th (Running – completed 19/19 laps)
Kevin Magnussen – Started Sprint17^th / Finished 18^th(Running – completed 19/19 laps)