Optimism has not been the order of the day for the Haas F1 Team lately. Their expectations for the United States Grand Prix were met with their results of 14th for Romain Grosjean and 16th Kevin “The Daring Dane” Magnussen.
The Mexican Grand Prix was won by the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel scraped for the F1 Drivers Championship, but in the end Vettel’s P4 finish wasnot enough to prevent the fall of the 2017 F1 drivers championship to Lewis Hamilton.,
Like the US Grand Pris, expectations for the Grand Prix of Mexico were low for the most populat F1 team in Kanapolis North Carolina. The Haas cars qualified in the same 14th and 16th positions to which they finished the US Grand Prix, except it was Kevin Magnussen in the 14th position for the start of the Mexican Grand Prix as he out qualified Grosjean in 16th.
Kevin Magnussen was overlooked by many for the F1 Drive Of The day. He started 14th, and was up to the 12th position by lap 2. On lap 3 he was up to P10, a points scoring position, and he never looked back. On lap 4 Magnussen was up to P9 and it was lap 6 when he moved up to P8, which is where he finished. He did move up to as high as 6th on lap 20.
Kevin Magnussen earned the “Haas F1 Fans Mail Man Award” when he finished in the race in 8th position, which delivered 4 points for the Haas F1 Team. Romain Grosjean would finish in 15th place. But those 4 points from Magnussen would draw the Haas Team to within 1 point of Renault, in 7th place for the F1 Constructors Championship, and only 6 points from the Toro Rosso team with 53 points in 6th place.
Sixth place may sound like a tall order with only two races remaining, but it could happen if they get some help. Today that help came from Renault, or as they might be called today Re’no-no-no-no-no. Six cars are running Renault engines in the 2017 season, and five of those engines would fail today. The sixth engine was in the Red Bull of the race winner, Max Verstappen. Here is a list of the Renault engine failures
Lap 6 – Daniel Riccardo – Red Bull – Engine Failure
Lap 26 – Nico Hulkenberg – Renault – Engine Failure
Lap 32 – Brendon Hartley – Toro Rosso – Engine Failure
Lap 58 – Marcus Ericsson – Toro Rosso – Engine Failure
Lap 62 – Carlos Sainz – Renault – Engine Failure
The Renault engine failures could allow that 7th Constructors position held by Renault to fall to Haas. And those Toro Rosso cars also have Renault engines. Another bad weekend for the Renault engines and Haas could rise two places. Time will tell…
2017 CONSTRUCTOR STANDINGS
| POS | TEAM | PTS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | MERCEDES | 595 |
| 2 | FERRARI | 455 |
| 3 | RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER | 340 |
| 4 | FORCE INDIA MERCEDES | 175 |
| 5 | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 76 |
| 6 | TORO ROSSO | 53 |
| 7 | RENAULT | 48 |
| 8 | HAAS FERRARI | 47 |
| 9 | MCLAREN HONDA | 24 |
| 10 | SAUBER FERRARI | 5 |
But the race delivered by Kevin Magnussen was an absolutely brilliant drive. On lap 47 Mercedes predicted that Lewis Hamilton would finish the race in P8. Vettel was forced to drop to the back of the pack on lap 1 when he had to pit for a new nose wing after it punctured the tire of Lewis Hamilton. Vettel and Hamilton would both fight from the back of the pack, Vettel would pass Magnussen, but Hamilton would not.
Magnussen held off both Alonso in his McLaren, and Hamilton in his Mercedes, for over twenty laps. The Haas car was able to maintain a race pace which the McLaren or Mercedes could not match. And Kevin “The Daring Dane” Magnussen drove his Haas VR-17 to perfection.
Haas F1 Fans extend their congratulations to to Lewis Hamilton on winning the 2017 F1 Drivers Championship. And also to Mercedes on wining the Constructors Championship.
But to be honest, we at Haas F1 Fans don’t give a crap about any of that. We’ve got our sights set on P6 in the Constructors Championship.
We will see you on November 12th in Brazil. Game on Re’no-no-no-no-no-no