The Haas team was excited about its performance in the qualifying session for the Formula 1 Miami GP, despite the poor position of Kevin Magnussen, who will only start in P19. But in the meantime, Nico Hulkenberg managed a good P9.
Ayao Komatsu, team boss: “I think the Sprint race went really well because obviously only the top eight score and we weren’t expecting anything here. Our pace was good and Nico coming home in P7 was fantastic, an incredible result for us. In the qualifying session for the GP, looking at what we had already done this weekend, we knew the car was fast and both drivers were fast, so we wanted them both in Q3. Unfortunately, Kevin on his final Q1 lap encountered traffic and was unable to advance. In fact, Nico had a DRS problem in Q1 and almost didn’t make it through, but the entire garage did an incredible job to resolve it before Q2. Reaching Q3 and beating RB, who was faster all weekend, is really good. It was a very rewarding day,” he concluded.
Hulkenberg: “We had a good track position straight away and that was really key for us today in the Sprint race. I was on the inside line in turn 1 and managed to avoid any problems. The group in front of me was a little faster, but in the end, when the race calmed down, we were fine. In the qualifying session it was really difficult to do the perfect lap, it’s a challenging track with the high temperatures and the tires heating up throughout the lap. Overall it was a very positive Saturday, with two points today, and they are valuable for us and it’s great to have them already. Of course we will fight for more points tomorrow, but it will be a close fight with RB and everyone else behind us for sure,” he added.
Magnussen: “I sound like a broken record every time after qualifying talking about traffic. I think we have a decent car so we should be able to do something tomorrow, but I’m tired of starting in a bad position because of the traffic. For now, it’s time to stay focused and get the work done,” he added.
F1MANIA.NET follows the Miami GP ‘in loco’ with journalists Victor D. Berto and Rodrigo França.
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