Haas F1 Team a Good Bet in Monaco American Squad Returns to Scene of First Double-Points Finish
Mike Arning/HAAS F1 | 20.5.18 | Aktuality
Haas F1 2018
Haas F1 Team a Good Bet in Monaco
American Squad Returns to Scene of
First Double-Points Finish
KANNAPOLIS, North Carolina (May 20, 2018) – The 2017 Monaco Grand Prix proved to be a milestone event for Haas F1 Team as drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen finished eighth and 10th, respectively, in the 75th running of the iconic race. It marked Haas F1 Team’s first double-points finish, and it showed the team’s growth since its debut more than a year earlier in the 2016 Australian Grand Prix.
Haas F1 Team hasn’t stopped growing. In fact, the third-year outfit is in a growth spurt, with the speed it displayed in preseason testing at Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya carrying through the first five races of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship.
Three point-scoring drives have already been had by Haas F1 Team, but there’s a tinge of pain in that the American squad should really be five-for-five in point-scoring finishes. Despite missed opportunities so far this season, Haas F1 Team is sixth in the constructors’ standings with 19 points, 21 points behind fifth-place McLaren and one point ahead of seventh-place Force India.
Even with Monaco’s tight confines and lack of overtaking, Haas F1 Team sees opportunity at the 3.337-kilometer (2.074-mile), 19-turn street circuit. Its worst finish at Monaco is 13th and it has an average finish of 10th, and between last year’s double-points haul and the speed it’s shown so far this season, Haas F1 Team is ready to run along the French Riviera.
Juxtaposed with the glitz and glamour of Monaco is the gritty and grizzled layout of Circuit de Monaco, which has remained relatively unchanged since 1929 when Anthony Noghes, son of a wealthy cigarette baron, proposed a grand prix through the streets of Monte Carlo. That inaugural race on April 14 was won by William Grover-Williams in a Bugatti and it came on the same basic layout that challenge today’s Formula One drivers.
Challenge is the key word, for there is no more challenging venue than Monaco. The 78-lap race features many elevation changes and the tightest corners on the series’ 21-race calendar. It also lays claim to having the only tunnel in Formula One, which forces drivers to adjust their eyes from glaring sun to shade every lap.
Monaco is the shortest circuit in Formula One and home to the sport’s slowest corner – the hairpin turn six – which drivers navigate at a pedestrian 50 kph (31 mph) while in maximum steering lock. It’s why three-time Formula One champion Nelson Piquet said racing at Monaco was “like trying to cycle around your living room”. Monaco is the smallest and most densely populated country in the world, so it’s only appropriate that its racing circuit emulates the locale.
Grosjean and Magnussen have nine Monaco Grand Prix starts between them – six by Grosjean and three by Magnussen. Grosjean’s best result is eighth in 2014 and 2017. Magnussen’s is 10th, also in 2014 and 2017.
Magnussen comes into Monaco with a hot hand. He has scored as many top-six finishes in his last four races (two) as he had previously scored in his entire Formula One career. His most recent result was a best-of-the-rest sixth place drive in the preceding Spanish Grand Prix, where the only cars ahead of him were from the Big Three of Mercedes, Scuderia Ferrari and Red Bull.
Grosjean, meanwhile, is up against a stacked deck. He will serve a three-place grid penalty in the Monaco Grand Prix as a result of an accident in the series’ last race in Barcelona. But with 10 podium finishes to his name, Grosjean has proven his ability to scrap for position and get results, even on a nearly 90-year-old street circuit lined with menacing Armco barrier.
A strong result on Sunday begins with a strong qualifying result on Saturday. Expect the newest tire in Pirelli’s lineup – the Pink hypersoft – to play a starring role. This is the softest and, subsequently, fastest compound Pirelli has ever made, and its racing debut comes at Monaco. The hypersoft is suitable for all circuits that demand high levels of mechanical grip, but the trade-off for this extra speed and adhesion is a considerably shorter lifespan.
Teams have tested this compound extensively, most recently May 15-16 in Barcelona, and have given it rave reviews. It’s no wonder teams have overwhelmingly chosen a high amount of hypersofts for its 13-set allotment. Grosjean and Magnussen are no exception, with each opting for nine sets of the hypersofts to use in practice, qualifying and the race.
With their cars outfitted on hypersofts in a region known for hyper exuberance, Haas F1 Team is ready to roll with the high-rollers. Don’t bet against them.
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