A dark weekend for Haas in Brazil

All good things must come to an end. This Chaucer adage makes perfect sense in light of the weekend endured by Haas. After several satisfying races and numerous points collected, the American team experienced varying fortunes on the Interlagos circuit as they leave Brazil without a single point, unlike Alpine which, thanks to its double podium, now leads Haas by 3 points. From the qualifying rounds, the American cars did not seem to be comfortable on the new asphalt of the Interlagos circuit, reflected in their 17th and 19th positions on the starting grid. Despite being far back, these positions could still have allowed a points finish due to the precarious weather conditions at the start of the race.

Too many mistakes during the race for Bearman.

From the first laps, Oliver Bearman, who was replacing Kevin Magnussen this weekend, sick, clashed with several drivers, including Franco Colapinto, which earned him a 10-second penalty from the race direction. When the rain intensified, the British driver shouted on his radio to ask for the race to be stopped: « How can we be allowed to race like this? Someone is going to crash! Talk to the FIA, it's really dangerous. I'm trying not to die. » The FIA then decided to respond to his request by deploying the safety car before displaying the red flag after the accident involving the Argentine driver. However, at the restart of the race, Bearman made a mistake in approaching the third sector, then he damaged his front wing after contact with the wall at turn 6 three laps later.

Finally twelfth in the Grand Prix, the Haas driver was not satisfied with his performance this Sunday, aware that his too many mistakes have probably cost him points. « A tough race, too many mistakes on my side, and it compromised my race. We finish 12th and close to points despite all my errors, but on the other hand, I lost too much time. It was a tough day. » His teammate also had a tough Sunday, which ended prematurely due to retirement.

A costly mistake for Hülkenberg

On the 28th lap, the former Renault driver made a mistake at the first turn and ended up placing his single-seater against the rumble strip. In order to get back on the track, the German needed external assistance, which is however prohibited by the regulations. Therefore, the stewards decided to disqualify him during the race, a first since 2007 when Massa and Fisichella were also disqualified from the Canadian Grand Prix for not respecting the red light at the pit lane exit. Reflecting on this comical incident, the former Sauber driver praised the work of the stewards, explaining that they were really pleased with themselves.

We were doing fine, it wasn't great, but it wasn't amazing either. But just after a pit stop, our race ended quite quickly," he told the media, including RacingNews365. "[The stewards] arrived, they pushed me and they were really happy with themselves, they were partying and encouraging me, saying: 'Come on, it's not over, let's go!' At that moment, you don't really think, you don't care, you just keep going and deal with the consequences later. An unfortunate mistake for Hülkenberg but understandable given the horrendous track conditions. It was among the toughest conditions I've experienced in a race, there was very little grip and a very, very narrow performance window. It was very difficult not to make mistakes.

Haas: losing team of the midfield

A disappointing result, especially as its rivals Alpine and Racing Bulls both scored significant points. A three-way fight is shaping up for the end of the season, and the American team will have to regain its form from the last Grand Prix if it wants to reach sixth place in the constructors' standings. "We just have to regroup, it was really a dark weekend for us, and we made bad decisions for various reasons, but we just have to bounce back," concluded the German, thus putting an end to his streak of three consecutive points finishes.