Hulkenberg: Haas 'alarm bells ringing' after another engine failure
Nico Hulkenberg says another engine failure suffered by the Haas in last Sunday's British Grand Prix have set off the "alarm bells" in the US outfit which needs to investigate the issue.
Hulkenberg has suffered two power unit failures so far this season, but on Sunday it was his teammate Kevin Magnussen who on the receiving end of the Ferrari unit's breakage.
Magnussen had already encountered an oil pressure issue earlier in qualifying which led to Haas bolting on an older unit on to his VF-23. But the engine gave up the ghost shortly after the race had reached its half distance point.
Asked if the failures this season are a cause for concern, Hulkenberg believes they are.
"I think so. I mean, I had a couple this year too, it definitely something where the alarm bells are ringing and it seems to happen more just on our team and car," said the German.
"So I think definitely we need to take it seriously and we need to investigate and find out why."
Haas' VF-23 has proven to be quick in qualifying trim. But come race day, its drivers' efforts have been undermined either by massive tyre degradation issues or by reliability problems.
Magnussen admitted Haas' engine setbacks are particularly frustrating as he has no control over the reliability of the team's engine.
"It's one of those things that is much out of my control that I don't tend to worry about it," said the Dane. "Of course, I offer my feedback if they need it, but it's really up to them to run the engine.
"And that's not something I can have an influence on. So all I can do is stay focused and stay close to the team, try to help them find the next improvement.
"It's part of racing. It's been part of it from day one. So these things happen. And, yeah, I'm more focused on trying to move forward in terms of performance and find our way back into top 10.
"I couldn't finish qualifying and couldn't finish the race. So, obviously not my weekend," he added.
"I’ve got to just stay focused, try to look for that next step of improvement. I think we are fighting a little bit too hard right now to get into the top 10."
Hulkenberg was able to see the checkered flag at Silverstone, but the German was anything but happy with his run to P15 which started with a contact with Red Bull's Sergio Perez that required a costly front-wing change.
"Not great, boring," the Hulk lamented. "Because obviously the early pitstop, the early damage to the front wing was costly, and put us out of the race, basically. And then we needed the safety car, but it happened kind of too late at the end of the race.
"Then I think the pace after that and traffic was actually decent, but there was just a DRS train, and it was difficult to make any or much progress."
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