HALF TERM REPORT: Haas – With a departing driver duo, can the team capitalise on their surprising year?

After their underwhelming P10 finish in the 2023 standings, and a notable change in Team Principal, Haas's 2024 has been something of a surprise. With 27 points banked, have they been able to extract the most out of the VF-24 so far? Here’s their half term report…

• Read all the 2024 half term reports here

Best finish

Nico Hulkenberg – 6th in Austria and Britain

The American outfit have already more than doubled their points tally from last season, improving from 12 points to 27 with plenty of races remaining. Much of that total is thanks to two particularly strong P6 finishes from Hulkenberg in Austria and Britain, where he took advantage of making Q3 to bring home a haul of points for Haas.

The team unveiled an extensive upgrade package at the British Grand Prix, including adjustments to the sidepod inlet design and a reworked floor that gave them a significant boost over the weekend.

Qualifying in P6 at Silverstone, the German driver marked Haas’ best qualifying performance of the year and, despite dropping back to P9 at the beginning of the race, fought his way back through the pack to reclaim his Saturday position.

After achieving two consecutive P6 finishes, Hulkenberg confidently stated that Haas are “definitely in the fight now for the fifth-fastest team” – they currently sit in seventh in the constructors’ standings, just seven points behind nearest rivals RB.

Qualifying head-to-head

Hulkenberg 11-3 Magnussen

One of Haas’s biggest strengths this year has been their one-lap pace, with Hulkenberg particularly shining here – the German has made it into Q3 on six occasions so far this season.

Overall, he has enjoyed significantly more successful Saturdays than his team mate, outqualifying him 11 times. Kevin Magnussen, meanwhile, has progressed to Q2 the same number of times that the German has made it to the top 10 shoot-out, demonstrating the latter’s qualifying prowess.

With Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari regularly occupying the limited Q3 spots, it is particularly impressive that Hulkenberg has managed to claim a remaining one for himself on a fairly frequent basis.

READ MORE: Hamilton predicts ‘one hell of a second half’ to 2024 amid multi-team scrap for wins

Race head-to-head

Hulkenberg 11-2 Magnussen

Often as a result of his stronger qualifying performances, Hulkenberg has regularly outscored his team mate, claiming 22 of the 27 points Haas currently have. However, the margin between the duo is often not as considerable on race days as they've taken the chequered flag within two places of each other at half of the season’s races.

Both drivers have also lost out from strategy calls, such as Hulkenberg carrying out an early stop and Magnussen losing out to an overcut in Hungary, leading to them finishing the race in P13 and P15 respectively.

Other than a handful of poorly-timed pit stops, the duo have been reasonably lucky with reliability this year, only retiring from one event when they were involved in that enormous crash with Sergio Perez on the opening lap in Monaco.

Best moment

The Austrian Grand Prix was a monumental weekend for Haas as both drivers finished in the top 10, making the most of the misfortunes of usual points finishers like Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc.

The team solidified their status as a midfield competitor as Hulkenberg crossed the line in P6, with Magnussen claiming P8. It was not an easy race either – the former was nearly passed by Perez in the closing stages of the race, and the latter battled to keep Daniel Ricciardo and Pierre Gasly behind him.

READ MORE: Hulkenberg explains how relationship with Magnussen ‘turned into a friendship’ as he reflects on team mate’s Haas exit

Worst moment

Haas’s outing in Monaco was certainly one that’s best forgotten, as Hulkenberg and Magnussen suffered a disastrous qualifying and there race was over almost as quickly as it began.

Both drivers started qualifying with what seemed to be promising pace, but this faded as they reached Q2 and they had to settle for 12th and 15th. The Dane was especially frustrated, believing that they “could have been fighting for Q3” if not for the amount of traffic on the push laps.

Things went from bad to worse as the duo were later disqualified from the results entirely, after the stewards noted that the new rear wing design on both cars was non-compliant. The team conceded that no performance advantage was gained, but were nevertheless found to have breached the Technical Regulations.

Starting from the back of the grid on Sunday, their race ended prematurely due to the major collision with Perez mentioned above, seriously damaging all three cars and cutting their weekend short.

Going forward

Many members of Haas, including new Team Principal Ayao Komatsu, expected the team to linger at the rear of the pack this season, so their relative success has come as a welcome surprise.

A large part of their performance is owed to the extensive updates that Haas have introduced over the last few months, which Magnussen wryly pointed out is “the first time in Haas’s history that we’ve brought upgrades to the car that made it faster”.

ANALYSIS: Why Haas singled out Ocon as the man they wanted – and what it says about the team's project

If they can maintain the trend of regularly improving the car, the team could fight for P6 or even P5 in the constructors’ standings if they’re feeling ambitious. Aston Martin are 46 points ahead – not a particularly unassailable gap with 10 races, including three Sprints, still to go.

More realistically, the American team can definitely aim to clinch P6 and mark their best season since 2018, especially if they rid themselves of their inconsistent qualifying pace and occasionally discordant race strategy.

What's more, while it does not concern their current drivers, off track Haas have committed to a strapping driver line-up for 2025, signing Esteban Ocon from Alpine and promoting F2 star Ollie Bearman. Laying claim to the tallest team mates on next season’s grid, the team should be more than able to continue to improve on their current promising form.