Nico Hulkenberg has revealed the tyres on his Haas were “eaten up alive” during the Spanish Grand Prix which resulted in him and team-mate Kevin Magnussen suffering a race to forget in Barcelona.
On Saturday, Hulkenberg qualified a superb eighth, which turned into a start from seventh on the grid after Pierre Gasly was hit with a double impeding penalty.
Yet Hulkenberg finished a miserable 15th, whilst Magnussen was 18th, with both making three stops for tyres, in contrast to the majority of the 20-car field.
“Tough, difficult,” was Hulkenberg’s frank assessment of the 66-lap race. “Unfortunately, the deg was really high for us and we had to three-stop, whereas a lot of the competition two stopped, and yet still the pace was similar to them.
“It looks at first glance that over one lap we’re competitive but in the long runs we still have some homework to do and pace to find.”
Hulkenberg further described the three-stop strategy as the “bail-out option” given the high tyre degradation, adding: “I just had really high deg all race long.
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“It started right after the start, and they (the tyres) were just eaten up alive pretty much. I instantly ran into heavy graining front and rear, and I was just going backwards.
“We opted to stop early but the trend continued, even on the medium, and on the hard tyre.
“I think the pace was then okay relative to our main competition, but obviously we were a stop behind. You’re not going to catch that up, and we weren’t able to outpace them, even with fresher tyres.
“So good over one lap but over 66 not so much, and we need to find something.”
Hulkenberg suggests Haas ‘not so compliant’
It was noticed that Hulkenberg had pushed hard when on fresh tyres, leading to the suggestion he was being detrimental to the rubber early in each stint.
Acknowledging that was the case, he added it was intentional. “We’re at the back, we have to try something to create an opportunity,” he said. “If I’d saved five seconds in the beginning, I would still have had the same result.
“We’re not here to do a coffee race. I was consciously pushing, I heard the tyres screaming but I still had to do.”
Hulkenberg at least had his one-lap pace to reflect on and enjoy but he also appreciates that means nothing if it does not translate to a result on Sunday.
“I’d rather have it the other way around,” said Hulkenberg. “But that’s the trend and the characteristic we see so far this year.
“We need to try and balance it more between Saturday and Sunday because whilst it’s nice to bang out a nice quali, it always raises expectations and then you get a downer on Sunday.
“That’s not so easy to cope with and to explain to people all the time, so there is some work to do for the longer-term future.”
As to the likely causes of the problems, he said: “It’s probably like always, a mixture of reasons.
“Downforce, for sure, and probably a little bit in some suspension stuff, compliance. I think our car is not so compliant, and that is pretty hard on tyres usually.”
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