Nico Hülkenberg expressed his disappointment with Haas’ lack of race pace at the Canadian Grand Prix and believes the team needs to devise a long-term plan for improvement.

Nico Hülkenberg experienced a roller coaster of results in Canada. After qualifying on the front row with the second-best time, benefiting from rain and a red flag, the Haas driver dropped three positions on the grid for exceeding the speed limit during the interruption. In the race, he struggled with pace and finished only in 15th place.

Early in the Canadian Grand Prix, George Russell crashed into the wall, causing the deployment of a safety car that disrupted race strategies. According to Nico, the yellow flag worked against Haas, leaving them with fewer tools to defend their position in the race.

“That didn’t help, that’s for sure. We lost a lot of positions, the timing wasn’t as good. It was very different from Saturday with the red flag. But after that, we had difficulties with pace and tire degradation,” he told the American website Motorsport.com.

When asked if he enjoys the moments when he can compete higher up the field, Hülkenberg stated that he doesn’t and highlighted that Haas needs a long-term project to improve their race pace. The team currently sits eighth in the Constructors’ Championship with 8 points.

“If you’re just bombarded and know that you’re hanging by a thread, it’s not so great, but it’s what we have. It’s hard to accept when you have a moment. But I think we need to think long-term and come up with a solution for this. There’s nothing we can do with setup adjustments to fix it. These are bigger problems,” he concluded.