Haas F-1’s Nico Hulkenberg was perhaps the driver of the day on Saturday at Yas Marina Circuit as he initially qualified his VF-24 fourth on the grid.
However, a three-place grid penalty was handed to Hulkenberg following an incident on pit road that caught the race director’s attention.
Now starting seventh, the German will look to overtake Haas’ best result in F-1 (fourth, 2018 Austrian Grand Prix with Romain Grosjean) in his final race with the team. Scuderia Ferrari reserve driver Oliver Bearman and former Alpine driver Esteban Ocon will fill the team’s two-driver lineup next season.
Hulkenberg is set to join Kick Sauber in 2025.
Prior to his penalty, Hulkenberg felt his car was more than capable of pacing the 16-turn road course with success on the timing sheet.
“I was expecting a top-10 result for sure because that’s where we’ve been all weekend,” Hulkenberg began. “The car felt strong every session pretty much. I kind of knew that’s a must do. But, P4 is definitely more than what I expected and hoped for.
“Very strong session, which goes down to a really strong-performing car and good team effort.”
With one race left before exiting the Haas F-1 stable, Hulkenberg believes he has the opportunity to stay ahead of drivers behind him and gain valuable points toward the constructor standings, where the Haas team is seventh, a mere five points behind Alpine.
“I think it’s close and it’s gonna be a tight and tough battle for sure,” Hulkenberg said. “Alpine’s been strong lately. But, we’re all so close together. It really comes down to all the kind of racing moments… strategy, etc.
“It’s just important for me personally that we maximize tomorrow, leave nothing out there and hopefully we can have a happy end tomorrow night.”
