F1 data: Why Nico Hulkenberg can overcome grid penalty to help Haas beat Alpine

Nico Hülkenberg took a superb fourth place in qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday.

The Haas team produced an astonishing performance at Yas Marina and gave Alpine a clear warning in the fight for sixth place in the F1 2024 Constructors’ Championship ahead of the final race of the season.

Haas vs Alpine showdown for sixth place in F1 2024 Constuctors’ Championship

Hülkenberg qualified ahead of Max Verstappen in Abu Dhabi for his best grid result of the F1 2024 season before the final battle against Alpine.

However, the stewards subsequently handed him a three-place grid drop penalty after the session. From P4, he drops to P7 and moves Pierre Gasly up to P5.

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But despite this penalty, the German driver and Haas have clearly set the fight for P6 in the Constructors’ Championship on fire.

Five points separate the American team from Alpine and the data reveals that tomorrow Hülkenberg could be in contention to overcome that difference to the Enstone-based team.

We can see two very different set-up and behavioural philosophies between both cars.

The Alpine A524 is a clearly superior car in cornering performance, but Haas has higher top speeds on the straights and has a great braking performance.

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s race, where high degradation is expected, this could be an advantage for the Enstone-based team.

However, it will all depend on the tyre management of each driver and the chances of Hülkenberg to regain positions and the ability of Gasly to hold off rivals with seemingly better pure race pace.

Hülkenberg has been one of the standout drivers in qualifying this season. The driver who will race for Sauber from F1 2025 also finished ahead of Max Verstappen in the Red Bull.

What is surprising is the very close performance between the two cars in both top speed and braking.

However, the RB20 performs better in the slower and longer corners such as Turn 9 where Haas suffers the most.

In terms of race pace, Haas was also very competitive in FP2.

What looked like a very lightly fuelled car, which may also have been the case, showed a very strong pace on the soft tyre.

The battle for P6 in the Constructors’ Championship promises to be one of the biggest attractions of the final race of the long F1 2024 calendar.

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