Haas still at the top this weekend at Silverstone
Once again sixth at the finish, Nico Hülkenberg allows Haas to collect an additional 8 points in the constructor's standings and to distance Alpine. With this, the German approaches the rest of the season with great ambitions, including catching up with Racing Bulls, or even Aston Martin.
The sky is clearing for the American team. After a rather modest start to the season (11 points scored in the first 10 race weekends), the team of Gene Haas has just scored 16 points in the span of two weekends thanks to Hülkenberg’s two sixth places in Austria and this weekend at Silverstone, allowing the team to approach the second part of the season with full confidence. Moreover, the German driver is not hiding it.
I am very happy for the team, that’s eight more points on the board and they are really valuable.
More importantly, performance is on point with this update, and it makes me optimistic for the rest of the season. We are definitely in the fight for the fifth fastest team, which is obviously positive and no one expected it a few weeks ago.
The developments made by Haas during the last Grand Prix, especially this one in Silverstone, have borne fruit. The team arrived this weekend with no less than 7 new elements, including a new floor, reworked mirrors, as well as redesigned sidepod inlets to improve engine cover cooling, allowing the team to approach the upcoming races with more serenity.
A perfect strategy during the Grand Prix.
However, everything could have tipped in the wrong direction for the American team. Indeed, Hülkenberg, a surprising sixth in qualifying on Saturday, had a poor start and found himself in ninth place. From there, the race seemed challenging for him, but the arrival of the rain reshuffled the deck for all the teams, especially Haas, which excellently managed the weather changes by optimizing its strategy and making the right pit stops each time, unlike their rival Alpine.
“It was a tricky race with rain at the beginning. Here, with high-speed curves and such grip, it was very risky, but we managed to stay clean and recover what we had lost at the start,” analyzed the German driver at the end of the Grand Prix.
« Very happy to be back after the tough start I had. I was able to regain positions on the track. We had a bit of luck at times but it doesn’t matter. It’s more points for the team and that’s great,” he even explained on Canal+ microphone.
Finally sixth at the finish line thanks to Russell’s retirement, the German accumulates 8 points this weekend and gets closer to the top 10 in the drivers’ standings, but more importantly, Haas distances Alpine even more and slowly approaches the fifth place currently held by Aston Martin.
