Formula 1: Haas’ Wet Tyre Strategy Falls Short in Recent Race
In the recent Formula 1 race, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg found themselves in a precarious situation, struggling to make the most of their wet tyre strategy. Despite a promising start, with Magnussen carving his way up to fourth place by the end of lap three, the team’s decisions ultimately cost them valuable track position and points.
Magnussen’s early pace on the extreme wet tyre was impressive, but as the circuit began to dry out, the crossover point between intermediates and wets closed in. Haas opted to bring Magnussen in for intermediates on lap seven, but a slow pitstop hurt his chances, and he emerged in 13th place.
“It was looking good… but then I think we pitted off onto the inter too early because we ended up having to take another inter. We could have stretched that full wet, to then go on to the inter and stay on it instead,” – Kevin Magnussen
In hindsight, it appears that Haas might have pitted Magnussen too early, as he could have potentially stretched his stint on the full wet tyre to lap 15, negating the need for an extra stop under the safety car. This decision, combined with the slow pitstop, ultimately cost Magnussen a shot at points.
Hulkenberg, on the other hand, hung on until lap 12, but his car was not fully healthy, and he was battling to maintain pace. A comparison of the lap times suggests that Magnussen might have been able to gain a few tenths over his teammate’s range of times in the 1m34s.
The key question is how much they would have gained from not stopping under the lap 25 safety car. Our analysis suggests that staying out would have given them an average lap time of 1m52.613s, over 10 seconds quicker than the pit-in time they actually managed. However, this 10-second gain would not have been enough to bring the Haas duo back into play, and an end-of-lap 15 stop appears to be too late.
In conclusion, Haas’ wet tyre strategy fell short, and the team might have been better served to keep Magnussen on the wets for a few more laps.
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