Nico Hulkenberg believes Haas has the potential to be the leading midfield team in future despite the competitive nature of the current grid.
Haas finished fifth in 2018 when Hulkenberg was at Renault; the French constructor ultimately coming out on top in the battle for fourth place by 29 points. That’s a season that sticks in the German’s mind when he thinks about how high his current team can aim in future, and while he admits it is unlikely to be able to target regular podiums or wins while so closely linked to Ferrari, he says rising to the top of the midfield is realistic.
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“Never say never, anything’s possible in Formula 1 and things change quickly,” Hulkenberg told RACER. “But obviously, we are not a manufacturer. We don’t build everything. We are a customer of Ferrari, and obviously that has its perks but also you’re dependent on them and in many things.
“So I think they can do well, as we saw in 2018. Obviously, I was battling against Haas in the constructors’ championship for fourth. And I think something like that is definitely going to be possible again in the future.”
Haas currently sits seventh in the constructors’ championship in a season where all 10 teams had scored a point by round three, and is nine points behind McLaren in sixth. While fighting with Alpine – 32 points ahead in fifth – is a target, Hulkenberg doesn’t believe it would be productive for Haas to aim so high too quickly as it adds unfair expectations onto the team.
“I dream, but I’m also a realistic guy,” he said. “I think sometimes you should set high goals, but not over-ambitious goals because then you just put unnecessary pressure on yourself and the people you work with.
“Obviously we want to do as well as we can every weekend, and for me it’s about maximizing the potential we have. And that’s really difficult as it is, because the midfield consists of six teams at the moment, small differences have a huge impact on a weekend. So for me that’s the aim, to maximize what we have and push the team forwards so in the future we can hopefully go for some some bigger aims and results.”