While the top runners shone, as usual, it was the Haas Formula 1 team that shone the brightest. For the first time since Brazil 2019, both cars made it to Q3. However, the dust didn’t settle that quickly, as both drivers were under investigation. 

However, Kevin Magnussen’s P8, and Mick Schumacher’s P10 were at risk. According to the stewards, both drivers were driving unnecessarily slow during the qualifying session. The drivers are guilty of supposedly “breaching Article 12.2.1 i) of the International Sporting Code and non-compliance with race director’s event notes (point four of document 34); driving unnecessarily slowly during qualifying.”

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During qualifying sessions, all drivers needed to stay below the maximum time set by the FIA between the Safety Cars as shown on the pit lane. This rule was stated to prevent drivers from circulating at slow speeds. 

However, both drivers were given warnings and they could keep starting positions. 

Haas looked like ‘rockstars’ in qualifying

Haas had done a miracle today in qualifying with their VF-22. In the dying minutes, the Danish driver Kevin Magnussen put in a 1:19.682 for P8. While Schumacher’s effort saw him qualify for P10. 

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“I’m very happy with that. Two cars in Q3 for the first time this year just shows that the car is very good. It’s been interesting because a lot of teams brought upgrades this weekend and it doesn’t seem like they’ve found a huge amount and we seemed to have also found a little bit, even without upgrades and just in the set-up,” said Magnussen.

He concluded that there could be huge points to grab tomorrow. 

Mick Schumacher had his work cut out as an issue with the brakes being on fire and cut his FP3 running short. However, he was able to make for it and extract the maximum out of the car. The German concluded, “It felt great knowing that we haven’t brought any updates and a bunch of teams have, knowing that we’re still in that ballpark is definitely a good feeling.”

Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner was also very happy with how things went. He noted that it was a huge result for the team and that it was fantastic.

Gunther explains why the VF-22 hasn’t been upgraded yet

While many teams have been bringing upgrades to Barcelona, Steiner remains bullish that there is no need for the same for Haas. He remains confident that his team, Haas, can wait for two more months before bringing an update to the VF-22.

In an interview, Gunther explained, “I think we shouldn’t have pain, otherwise we should have brought the upgrade earlier. As I said before, it was a conscious decision to do this. So I think we can get enough out of what we have got.”

The Italian concluded that teams will have to be careful with their upgrades to stay within the budget cap limit.