Haas driver set to join Esteban Ocon for a pitlane start in 2023 F1 Azerbaijan GP
The starting grid for Sunday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix will see a minor shuffle as Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg will start the race from the pitlane due to making changes to his VF-23.
The German set a qualifying lap time good enough to start from P17 with this teammate Kevin Magnussen right behind him. However, he complained about the car having issues during the sprint race earlier, following which, Haas decided to make changes to his car's setup.
According to the parc ferme rules, a team is not allowed to make any changes to a car after the qualifying session, and since Haas broke that rule with Hulkenberg's VF-23, he will have to start the race from the pitlane.
The German isn't the only driver to violate the rules, with Esteban Ocon also set to start from the pitlane. The Alpine driver had qualified P12 but similar to Hulkenberg, he will be starting from the pits. This will bring in additional issues for the two drivers and their strategy will be crucial for securing a strong finish.
The reason for the changes in the setup could perhaps be that the drivers had only a single practice session according to the new sprint weekend format. However, there could be other reasons as well.
Hulkenberg complained about Haas' tire graining under safety car
The sprint race saw a very early safety car deployment after Yuki Tsunoda retired from the race, and as Nico Hulkenberg mentioned earlier, there was certainly some major graining in the car.
"I don't think [there was a problem with the car], it's just heavy graining after the safety car, three or four laps and then my tyres were just completely shot. I had not much to work with and to fight with. So it's just dropping like a stone, and need to look at it, understand it, analyse it, it's a bit of a question mark at the moment."
Kevin Magnussen, his Haas teammate, also had a similar issue, but to a much lesser extent. He was apparently able to manage the car well enough during the race, managing a P11 finish. In contrast, Hulkenberg fell behind his teammate in the 17-lap race, finishing P15.
Magnussen will start Sunday's main race in P16 and will be eyeing a points finish. It will be interesting to see how the race pans out for the two Haas drivers.