Monaco GP: Notes from the Training Team – Haas

The fifth round of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship began with training on Thursday at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo as the teams prepared for the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.

The race on Thursday consisted of two 60-minute sessions – FP1 and FP2 – on the 3.337-kilometer circuit with 19 corners.

In the first race, both VF-21: s took to the streets of Monte Carlo exclusively in the session with the Pirelli P Zero Red soft rubber. Her early wake-ups gave Schumacher a fastest lap of 1: 16.668 while Mazepin scored a 1: 16.393. After returning to the garage for a second set of brand new softs, there was an additional base run – mileage in Monaco, which is crucial in bringing both newbies up to speed. As the grip continued to improve, Mazepin drove his best lap with a 1: 14.616 – good for 17th overall, while a 1: 14,801 from Schumacher put the German 18th on the timesheet. A short final break with high fuel consumption brought both cars to the checkered flag.

A basic excursion with the yellow center tires started the FP2 schedule on both sides of the garage before Mazepin and Schumacher switched to soft rubber to qualify the Sims. A 1: 14,407 attempt by Mazepin finished 18th, while Schumacher finished 19th with a fastest lap of 1: 14,416. High-fuel runs were to follow, but the session ultimately got marked red in the final minutes after Schumacher contacted the barrier in Massenet on his way to Casino Square. With a suspension damage and a flat tire in the rear right, Schumacher had to park his VF-21 in order to end the activities early on Thursday.

Uralkali Haas’ F1 team drove a total of 119 laps on Friday in FP1 and FP2 – 59 for Mazepin and 60 for Schumacher.

Nikita Mazepin: “Monaco is just amazing whether you drive or not – it’s just something different. It was a very good day for us today. The team did a fantastic job of getting away from a difficult weekend.” In Barcelona today I had the confidence I needed in the car that I needed. Surprising given the season so far, but I had so much fun in the car that it actually felt like it was a day off – it was just cool looking ahead, there’s a lot less space here to let cars by, and we have no illusions that we will be lapped at our current pace in this race. But everything was fine for today. “

Mick Schumacher: “I think the day went very well in general. I had the feeling that I was comfortable in the car. Of course we know what we need to improve in those areas where we know we are a little bit Lost time. One of the big things. ” Here in Monaco is how much traffic you will have on one lap. Unfortunately we have a few on our laps today, but I think in general it’s the same for everyone else. We had a bit of a problem in our last run in FP2, but even I think that’s just part of the business in Monaco. There’s no room for mistake, I made a little mistake and that’s exactly what happened. Now I know the limit and how far I can go. I feel like we’re making progress as a team. Here in Monaco we will just get on with our work, go through our routines and keep working on being as well prepared as possible for qualifying. “

Günther Steiner: “Actually not a bad day, a pretty good day for us. If you look at the times, it doesn’t look like it, but we ran into it a lot and the plan worked – with the exception of Das kleine Missgeschick für Mick (Schumacher ) at the end of RP 2. The guys just worked hard and improved lap by lap. We asked them that and I think they both did a good job. Nikita (Mazepin) was happy with his day, it got his confidence a little built up with Mick it just seemed like he got a little close to Checo (Perez) and lost a bit of downforce and just had a quick oversteer that he couldn’t recover from Car isn’t too badly damaged be ready for Saturday. “

Check out our Thursday gallery from Monaco here.