Italian GP: Sprint Team Notes – Haas

Uralkali Haas F1 Team drivers Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher finished the second 100 km sprint qualifying race in 17th and 19th place respectively before the Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. Since sprint winner Valtteri Bottas received an engine penalty on Saturday in his Mercedes for the 53-lap race on Sunday, Mazepin and Schumacher start from positions 16 and 18 on the grid.

Schumacher and Mazepin started the sprint in positions 18 and 20 after the traditional knockout qualifying on Friday. A hectic opening lap and an early safety car phase meant that Schumacher was in 15th place at the restart, Mazepin immediately behind in 16th place – both VF21s with Pirelli P Zero Yellow Medium tires. The Russian then overtook his German team-mate on lap 4 and finished 15th before the race calmed down. After Mazepin later relinquished positions to Russell (Williams) and Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), he successfully held 17th place ahead of Kubica (Alfa Romeo) on the checkered flag. Schumacher finished in 18th place before losing to Kubica in the final laps and finishing 19th.

Bottas, Friday’s fastest qualifier, kept his pace and won the sprint and won three championship points, but his pre-determined engine penalty means the Finn will start Sunday’s race from the end of the grid. Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen will benefit from Bottas’ accident. The Dutch racing driver finished second in the sprint and thus scored two more valuable points for his title fight. McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo finished third and took the last offered point in the sprint.

Nikita Mazepin: “I think we maximized our package today. I think our team could be in front of one of the Alfas if we do everything right and we did that. It looked like a pretty hectic race from the start – many Turns in front of us and some dust – that was an exciting race for the fans. From my side, I think we can still improve our balance, because after a free practice yesterday and a free practice today we haven’t maximized it yet, but we did we’re taking the right steps in the right direction and that’s good. “

Mick Schumacher: “The pace was as we imagined. Following here seems very difficult – the tires instantly overheat, we are sliding and essentially falling behind a little. Tomorrow is a new race, a longer race and maybe with strategy you can do something. Usually my starts are pretty good, I usually find the right way. “

Günther Steiner: “We completed a sprint qualifying for the second time. We started the day with a good morning session with FP2. We went through all of our tire work to find out which tires to use and when. The sprint in the afternoon, at least where we are, it was quite interesting. Everything went well and we got a few places for tomorrow – that’s the only thing we can do. In the end we had a good day. “

Check out our Saturday gallery from Monza here.