Haas F1 managing expectations after strong first day at Bahrain Grand Prix

The first full day of practice of the 2024 Formula 1 season delivered a number of surprises. First was the shocking performance from Daniel Ricciardo in the first practice session, as he put his RB01 atop the timing sheets in FP1 for Visa Cash App RB F1 Team. Then in FP2 came another stunner, as Mercedes finished with a 1-2 atop the board with Lewis Hamilton followed by teammate George Russell. With a number of teams posting qualifying runs during FP2, the performance from Mercedes certainly caught some attention.

Another surprise from FP2? Haas. When the dust settled on a Thursday night in Bahrain Kevin Magnussen was in P14, and it was Nico Hülkenberg up in P7, just a half-second off the pace set by Hamilton:

And some of their rivals in the midfield have taken notice.

“The cars around us are quicker than I’d like, especially the Haas, so we need to look at what we can do better,” said Alexander Albon in the post-practice media report from Williams.

In their own post-session report, Haas looked to downplay expectations, reminding everyone of their limitations from a season ago.

“It was a pretty good Friday - the first one of the year - so not much of a reference yet. This morning, we continued to focus on long-run and race-pace stuff, trying a couple of things. This afternoon was more like a normal program. The pace over one lap was maybe a bit unexpected but also there’s no reason to get over-excited or over-ambitious now,” said Hülkenberg. “I think there were a few people who didn’t do low-fuel runs and have more potential, but it’s going to be tight and fun to see.

“I expect a very tight field in qualifying, like it was last year, it will continue to be like that – so the smallest mistake can have a big impact. I’m not exactly sure where we’ll slot in, but we’ll put everything that we have into tomorrow.”

According to his teammate, Haas has made strides with tire degradation, their Achilles’ heel from a season ago.

“I think it’s been a pretty decent day. There’s still a big uncertainty on other people’s fuel loads etc. but again we were focusing on race runs and that was actually good – I’m encouraged so far. On low-fuel, it’s still going to be a big learning curve as we haven’t had any running – FP2 was the first real low-fuel run that we did, so lots to learn there,” added Magnussen. “It seems simpler than the high-fuel running, which I feel like we’ve gone in the right direction with in terms of tire-wear at least. I’m curious to learn about the real pace of the car in race conditions but tire degradation is better.”

Team Principal Ayao Komatsu outlined how the team continued their focus on race pace in FP1, which was their focus during most of pre-season testing.

“In FP1, it was a continuation of building on from the work of last week – looking at the high-fuel long-run performance – because that’s still our biggest limitation,” outlined Komatsu. That’s why looking at the timesheets we were bottom two but we weren’t worried about that, we were focused on our program like we were in testing. I’m happy that we learned a couple of things that led to changes for FP2.”

The second practice session gave them a chance to look at qualifying setups, and the Haas boss noted that the team has taken some steps forward in that department.

“In FP2, the conditions were very different compared to testing, it was actually quite cold. In both sessions, it was pretty windy and more difficult compared to testing as well. In FP2, we looked at our low-fuel performance for the first time since the third day of testing. Again, we didn’t get the best out of it but having said that, the lap Nico put in was pretty good, but that’s not my main concern,” added Komatsu. “We then did a high-fuel run – and it was okay – but it shows we’ve got a bit more work to do. The things we learned through testing have been reflected today and it shows that we’re in a better place, but we must make another step, so we’re really focused on that.”

A season ago, qualifying pace was a strength for the team. So seeing them up in P7 during a session that saw many teams attempt some qualifying simulations might not be a total surprise. But if they can find improvements on longer runs — and avoid the tire degradation issues that hampered them a season ago — then they really will have taken a step forward.