Nico Hulkenberg admits Ferrari's close ties with Haas have possibly played a role in tire wear issues for the car

Nico Hulkenberg believes Haas could share similar degradation issues with Ferrari, as bothteamsm share some parts.

Speaking to the media, including Sportskeeda, ahead of the 2023 Dutch GP, the German driver believes the American team is struggling with their race pace and needs to resolve their performance woes.

Asked by Sportskeeda if their problems were similar to Ferrari's and whether they could carry through into 2024, Nico Hulkenberg said:

"Hopefully not. There is definitely, obviously because we get some of their (Ferrari) parts, there is some links there. But still on the aero side, it is a different car, self designed self built. We need to find a way for ourselves to help us in the areas that we struggle now.”

Asked by Sportskeeda where he sees himself with Haas and their car limitations, the German driver said:

“Obviously we want to do better. Collectively as a team we are not happy with where we are right now, specially the Sunday performances are where problem and our weakness right now and that’s where our focus is. We all pull and are working in the same direction trying to address it, trying to change it. It’s not an easy fix, performance is not just on the street like that and you pick it up and put it in your car."

He added:

"It’s a process, but we are in it together, we are committed, focused to try and change it as soon as we can. I think in the first we have pretty much optimised all the opportunities that we had. I think the underlying problem in general is that on Sundays usually the pace is a little too slow and degradation on the tyres is a bit too high, and that is just the general, has been the trend really.”

Pointing out the Sunday performance issues due to tire degradation, which resulted in a loss of pace, Nico Hulkenberg felt the team was working on resolving the underlying issue.

Despite sharing some parts with Ferrari, the German felt their car was different in terms of aerodynamics and suggested they could have similar degradation issues, for which Haas needed to find its own solutions.

The Maranello drivers had complained about similar degradation problems earlier in the year, which seemed to have been resolved after their upgrades prior to the summer break. The former Renault F1 team driver felt that resolving the issues with the car was a process that would take time.

Punching above his weight, Nico Hulkenberg tried his best to qualify within the top 10 as consistently as he could in the races so far. However, the performance has not translated into the desired results, as the German rightfully pointed out to the media, including Sportskeeda in Zandvoort.

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Nico Hulkenberg elaborates on the limitations of their car on Sunday

Admitting that he had to back out of racing other drivers hard during a race, Nico Hulkenberg felt that their car had many limitations on a Sunday.

Addressing the underlying issue, the Haas driver felt their tires are under duress whenever they are racy on track, leading to overheating, degradation, and an overall loss of performance.

On how he could contribute individually to work around the limitations of the Haas, Nico Hulkenberg said:

“Well obviously as a driver, you drive and you work to what you have, and there’s you push to the limit and then you can over push, overdrive, and you slide the tyre. But the pace is hugely determined by the other cars that you race."

He continued:

"And what often happens now is that we start the race and everyone around me is faster and if you want to stay with them in the race, you have to push hard on the tyre, which eventually then you know results in overheating and more tyre deg, and I think that’s the underlying problem."

He concluded:

"It’s difficult because you sort of have to take yourself out of the race if you dont want to over stress the tyre, but that’s not the point we are here, we are here to race, we are here to try. So we need to find performance to put ourselves back in the mix.”

Asked if their upgrades brought to the Dutch GP will fix their performance issues, he replied:

“They both address some characteristic issues but also enhance performance globally on the car.”

Suggesting that their upgrades will address both performance deficits and the degradation issue, Nico Hulkenberg is looking forward to better performances in the future.

Scoring nine points out of the 11 points scored by the team, the German driver has been successful with his comeback. However, the car’s performance issues have hampered his ability to perform better for the majority of the first half of the season.