“I feel comfortable that the car does what I say and not the other way around” – Nico Hülkenberg

Nico Hülkenberg was pleased to get significant mileage behind the wheel of his VF-23 during the pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit as he continued adjusting to life back in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship after three years away.

Hülkenberg was brought in by the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team to replace Mick Schumacher for the 2023 season and completed almost two hundred laps in Bahrain across the three days of the test.

He was pleased with the way Haas’ 2023 car was handling throughout the test, and he says they acquired a lot of information that should help them set the car up for the first race of the season next weekend.

“All in all, it’s been good,” said Hülkenberg.  “I’ve got mileage in the car and I think I got what I was personally looking for, to get off on a good foot with the car, and find a good connection and harmony.

“I feel comfortable that the car does what I say and not the other way around. We’ve collected huge amounts of data that the team will go through and analyze over the next few days, and it’s all information that’s important for a driver as well.”

“It’s been a busy three days and that’s a very positive thing” – Kevin Magnussen

Team-mate Kevin Magnussen also enjoyed a productive three days, with the final afternoon seeing him complete almost one hundred laps, the Dane joking that he only got out of the car for a bathroom break!

Magnussen was pleased that Haas brought a reliable car to Bahrain that allowed them to go through their planned tests without interruptions, and completing ninety-five laps on the final afternoon was a bonus where he would have expected to do that many laps across a full day.

“It’s been a busy three days and that’s a very positive thing,” said Magnussen.  “Today we got a lot of laps in, and I was in the car from the beginning to the end – I only came out to go to the toilet!

“We completed a whole race in one run with live pit stops and going out again, so I’m pretty happy. You come into testing with a plan and you expect to be having to change that plan because of issues but we didn’t really have to.

“We got through it all, we nearly did 100 laps in one afternoon and that’s usually what you’d expect to do in one day.”

Kevin Magnussen enjoyed his three days of testing in Bahrain – Credit: MoneyGram Haas F1 Team