Nico Hülkenberg says it is up to everyone within the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team to improve their performance during the remainder of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season after another pointless weekend for the team at Spa-Francorchamps.
Not since the Miami Grand Prix in May have Haas broken into the points on a Sunday, although Hülkenberg did score some points of a sixth-place finish in the sprint race in Austria at the beginning of July.
The team have been struggling for much of the season with high tyre degradation, and although Hülkenberg believes they understand why it has been happening on a regular basis, there cannot just implement a quick fix and time will be needed to get the aero package right.
“I think we understand the cause and what happens and why it happens,” Hülkenberg is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “But fixing it and bringing loads of performance, it doesn’t just lay on the street, it’s a bit more complex.
“I think we can still improve the situation this year. To what extent, that’s TBC, it’s down to us, and we have to prove it. But yeah, it’s a longer-term thing.”
Hülkenberg believes the team will benefit from the enforced break between Belgium and the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, but he knows the importance of updates being brought to the VF-23 in order to show themselves to be genuine contenders for points later in the season.
“Yeah, we need it,” Hülkenberg said of the summer break. “But what we really needed is some upgrades, some real performance, to help ourselves. That’s what we need.
“Obviously, this track [Spa] again exposes the weaknesses of our car very much. That’s why we’ve not been competitive on any session on any lap really, I feel. So, a lot of work to do.”
