Austrian Grand Prix turned into a double blow for the Haas team and driver Nico Hulkenberg, as they experienced another Ferrari power unit failure and at the same time they struggled with their race pace at the 4.318-kilometre Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.
The Haas team has shown promising performance over a single fast lap, as demonstrated by Hulkenberg’s impressive Q3 appearances in both traditional qualifying and the sprint shootout during the Austrian race weekend.
The German driver even managed to qualify in fourth place for the sprint race and held onto a podium position for a significant portion of the event, especially when the track was wet. However, Haas’ perennial challenge of managing their tires resurfaced, causing Hulkenberg to drop down the order. Nevertheless, he fought hard and secured a respectable sixth-place finish thanks to a great pit stop timing to switch to slicks.
In the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday, starting from eighth position, Nico Hulkenberg encountered fresh difficulties in maintaining the optimal performance of his Pirelli compounds. Meanwhile, his teammate Kevin Magnussen had to start from the pit lane due to suspension changes.
After just 12 laps, the German driver had to make a pit stop to switch to the hard compound tire, known for its durability in the Pirelli range. The team hoped it would allow him to undercut a few cars at the Red Bull Ring. However, disappointment struck when, by Lap 14, Hulkenberg was forced to pull off the track as smoke emanated from the Haas VF-23.
Nico Hulkenberg’s race therefore abruptly ended and given the fact that the team had already experienced an engine failure in the second free practice session during the previous round in Montreal, team principal Guenther Steiner was far from pleased to witness yet another breakdown. The combination of the power unit issues and Haas’ ongoing struggle with tire management only compounded their frustrations:
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“Thankfully we got some points yesterday when we had the opportunity. Today has been a very disappointing day for us, another PU failure on Nico’s car and obviously the car is not fast enough in dry conditions. We’ve got a lot of work in front of us, and we will keep on working. When we have the tools, we can get good results as we showed yesterday, we just need to do our homework.” – Guenther Steiner pointed out.
Hulkenberg confirmed that the problem initially started appearing following his pit stop at the Red Bull Ring and was worried that the lack of pace as compared to their direct opponents was maybe forcing the American team to push the engine too much:
“We’re surrounded by quicker cars that are pushing on from behind, forcing us to go at a pace we’re not necessarily able to keep up with. The positive is the two very good qualifying sessions this weekend, and obviously a very good sprint, so at least we have that.”
Nonetheless, the power unit technical failure suffered by Haas in the Austrian Grand Prix will also lead to concern for Ferrari in view of the next rounds of the 2023 Formula 1 championship.

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