Nico Hülkenberg believes that Haas “needs to do better” after a disastrous season

Haas’ season has been very laborious. Günther Steiner’s garage only earned 12 points throughout the year. Moreover, the American team garnered 8 of those 12 units in the first five races of the year. In terms of development, nothing seemed to elevate the car to a higher level. So much so that at the end of the season in Las Vegas, while Nico Hülkenberg started with the new upgrades, Kevin Magnussen chose to race with the old settings.

A complicated second half of the season

Throughout the season, Nico Hülkenberg is convinced that Haas’ weakness was concealed at the beginning of the season. Teams like AlphaTauri made poor choices at the start of the season. However, during the year, the improvements made in various garages strengthened their competitiveness, unlike the American garage. « Clearly, it was a process, and the signs were there at the beginning of the season », explained the former reserve driver of Aston Martin. « We got away with it at the beginning because other teams were having more difficulties. And then, once they cleaned up and brought in real developments, that’s when we really started to pay the consequences. »

As he regained a starting position on the grid, Nico Hülkenberg admitted to having gone through a difficult second half of the season, much like the entire Haas team. I think I only had one opportunity to score a point or two in Singapore, said the German. Furthermore, we missed them due to a poor strategic decision. Apart from that, we simply never had the necessary pace to do it. Even when there were many cars retiring, we were too far behind. It’s not great, and we need to do better.

A failed development

Haas tried to improve their car. In the last four Grand Prix, the team arrived with a redesign of their car and new setups. However, it wasn’t at the same level as the other competitors. « In Las Vegas, I felt that the new package had an advantage over the previous one with a low downforce configuration, he testified. « In Abu Dhabi, I didn’t participate on Friday, but from Saturday onwards, I felt quite good unlike Kevin. But obviously, it’s not enough. An update is supposed to be better and solve some of your problems, and unfortunately, that didn’t happen. So, we need to try to do it for next year. »

With these difficulties encountered, Nico Hülkenberg hopes that the team will learn the necessary lessons for 2024. « “I want us to ultimately do better, and I think everyone in the team wants to do better,” added the 36-year-old driver. « “So we just have to try to find better solutions.” »

After a better 2022 season, Haas has regained the last place in the standings that it already held in 2021.