F1 team principal admits 31-year-old driver was really unhappy during 2023 season

Follow us on Google Discover

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has admitted that Danish driver Kevin Magnussen found it so difficult to drive the team’s launch car last season.

Last season was very tough for Haas, with the experienced pairing of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg unable to lift them off the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship.

Speaking to Speedcafe, Steiner admits that neither of his drivers were particularly happy last year.

At the start of 2023, Haas had swapped Mick Schumacher for Hulkenberg forming arguably the strongest pairing in the team’s history.

Haas had been trying to sign Hulkenberg for a long time and immediately he put his teammate under pressure.

The German performed excellently in qualifying, managing to finish in the top ten on multiple occasions.

However, tyre degradation was a huge issue and both cars more often than not drifted backwards during every race.

Steiner has now said that Magnussen couldn’t get to grips with the team’s car at the beginning of the season.

It led to an interesting phenomenon in Austin where the two drivers were in different versions of the same vehicle.

Unfortunately, Magnussen had to retire that day while Hulkenberg once again couldn’t trouble the points.

Steiner says Magnussen ‘hated’ Haas car at times

Talking about the race in Austin last year where the drivers used different cars, Steiner said: “They were very adamant on what they wanted. Kevin [Magnussen] just didn’t like, I call it now the old car, they are both so now, but the launch car, Kevin just, I would almost say hated that car, the behaviour of the car.

“But obviously, the upgraded car wasn’t a lot or any better performance-wise but he liked the driving better.

“So, at least we know which direction to go. Nico said, he just struggles with the upgraded car, so at the time we had nothing to lose.”

Hulkenberg and Magnussen will hope Steiner and his team can deliver a much quicker car in 2024.

Both drivers are out of contract at the end of the year and will want to put in displays that either convince Steiner to offer them a new deal or earn them a drive elsewhere.

Hulkenberg is one of the front runners to join Audi when they arrive on the grid.

Meanwhile, Magnussen will be looking over his shoulder with Ollie Bearman potentially being lined up for a drive in 2025.