Steiner happy with Hulkenberg: 'Twice in Q3, with no luck'

Haas is having a fine start to the season. The car is reasonably fast, especially in qualifying. In Australia, Nico Hulkenberg scored a nice seventh place for his new team. Guenther Steiner says he is very happy with his new driver and his team's start.

For the 2023 season, Haas decided to replace Mick Schumacher with Hulkenberg. Schumacher performed unconsistent and crashed regularly. Due to his disappointing performance, Steiner decided to replace the young German with his much more experienced compatriot, who is doing extremely well at Haas.

Satisfied with the VF-23

Haas' car, the VF-23, is proving to be quite fast, mainly in Hulkenberg's hands. Team boss Steiner is also satisfied with his team's performance. "We showed in all the races now that we twice went into Q3 pretty dominantly, without luck. Everybody thinks we have to have luck but I think we’ve got the sixth-best car out there, at least. We make the point that we scored points in two of the three races and twice got through to Q3," Steiner told Racer.

Satisfied with Hulkenberg

Nico Hulkenberg was the driver who achieved Q3 twice for Haas this season. The German is currently performing better than his teammate Kevin Magnussen: Hulkenberg scored six of Haas' seven points in 2023. So Steiner seems to have made an excellent choice in giving Hulkenberg a seat with his team.

"I’m impressed by Nico, how quickly he adapted to the car and to the team, and always tries to get the best out of it. It’s not always possible because there is no midfield anymore, there is the four leaders and then the rest of the pack — there is nobody weak there anymore. We are fighting in there and at the moment we are fighting at the front end of that pack."