It is at the bottom of the table that Haas F1 Team concluded the day’s two free practice sessions at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Kevin Magnussen and Pietro Fittipaldi finished 16th and 17th respectively in Free Practice 1, while in the evening, Mick Schumacher and Magnussen took 17th and 18th places.
The only one who revels in his day is Peter Fittipaldi, called upon to comply with the rule imposing the driving of rookies (a maximum of two Grands Prix in their career) on race weekends at least twice a year. Already seen in Mexico, the American-Brazilian set a time less than a tenth of a second behind the experienced Magnussen.
“I always adapt very quickly with this Formula 1”welcomes Fittipaldi. “I think the driving style with this Formula 1 is more or less my strong point, because I always brake late, I’m very confident and really aggressive. We had a great stint where we did all the scheduled laps and were The most important thing is to execute all the necessary things with the team, to learn as much as possible, but also to perform, and that’s what I want to do – show the team what of which I am capable.”
For others, there is unsurprisingly less satisfaction. Team principal Günther Steiner reveals that the floor of Magnussen’s car was damaged in each of the two sessions, without giving further details. “Kevin’s fast lap was compromised by floor damage and traffic, but I think we can do better than what we did today.”adds Steiner.
Its pilots agree. “I don’t think we had the same pace today as last weekend”believes Magnussen, author of the pole position during qualifying disrupted by light rain in Brazil, “but it’s only Friday, we can still get it out of the car and hopefully do better tomorrow.”
“The car didn’t look great on the track”confirms Schumacher. “We struggled a bit at high speed, but it wasn’t great in the slow corners either. It’s not the best of both worlds, that’s for sure! We’ll have to see what we can do to improve the car, I think we will probably have to give up a little aero, given the top speed of the others. Hopefully we can match them.”
Interview by Adam Cooper
