Holiday needed at Haas as rookies line-up for Abu Dhabi F1 Test

Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg, the team's regular drivers, will take a well-earned break after a gruelling and eventually below-par season for Haas who began the season well but lack of updates until the United States GP, but the new bits flopped at COTA and sums up their season of woes.

Explaining the rationale for having two F1 'rookie' drivers in action at Yas Marina Cicuit, Haas team principal Guenther Steiner explained: "We have an exciting line-up for the last race of the year. Pietro's reliability is always highly valued by the team, especially as we are still gathering data and knowledge for next season. It's therefore fitting that he continues his testing work after the tyre test at Silverstone."

"Ollie had a great first stint with us in Mexico City and his attitude, work ethic and feedback really impressed us. That's why we're happy to give him more time with the team so that he can continue to develop his knowledge of driving a Formula 1 car," added Steiner.

Ferrari protege, Bearman of course is relishing the opportunity of doing F1 mileage: “I’m really looking forward to doing the Young Driver Test with MoneyGram Haas F1 Team in Abu Dhabi. We’re doing FP1 together on Friday, so it will be great to be able to build on that and get a full day in the car.

“The Young Driver Test is the last chance the team will get this year to work on things for 2024 and I’ll try and do a solid job. The team made me feel very comfortable since we met in Qatar and I really enjoy working with them, I’m looking forward to seeing everyone in Abu Dhabi.”

"Great to be able to continue the development work with the team. I'm looking forward to doing the last laps of the season with the team and, of course, it's always great to drive an F1 car" added Fittipaldi.

Regarding the off-season and how the Haas team will unwind after a mammoth F1 season and ahead of an even longer one in 2024: “This year, I don’t think there will be any unwinding because we need to work hard to get back to our form and get our competitiveness back to where we want it to be.

"There’s a lot of work to be done and I need to focus to get ready for next season, to be in a better position than we were this season. Now, we’re only looking forward. What’s happened, we don’t forget it, but we’ve learned enough, and it’s wide open for next year.”

Magnussen is looking forward to the break: “Abu Dhabi is the end of a long season for us, and I think we had some expectations for this year that we didn’t fulfil. I think the positive of this year was although we’ve been fighting in an uncompetitive car, we’ve always done the best we could, and we’ll be doing that at the last race in Abu Dhabi, but I’m quite happy to get to the end of the year.”

“Over the winter I’m going to enjoy just having a consistent schedule. Getting into training, the first thing I’m going to do when I’m back home is starting the training camp with my trainer. I’m looking forward to it, I’ve built a new gym in my house and it’s got everything I need, including a lot of CrossFit gear, so I’m going to gain 15 kilos of muscle for next year – I hope the car is lighter!” concluded K-Mag.

Echoing his teammate in the Haas preview of the Abu Dhabi GP, Hulkenberg reckoned: “It’s been a long season for everyone, and the team have been in good spirits throughout it all, so hats off to them.

"From the catering team who get to track first, our security crew who always have a smile on their face and of course the crew in the garage and back at our factories, I really hope everyone gets the chance to recharge their batteries and take some time to relax.

“I’m looking forward to going home as I’ve been away for six weeks now since Austin. I want to see my friends and family and do some normal fun stuff, not thinking of a big beach holiday. I’ll pick up the training again around Christmas time," revealed The Hulk.

Haas are last in the F1 standings on 12 points, all scored before the season break except one they claimed in Singapore. They need to outscore rivals Alfa Romeo by five points at Yas Marina on Sunday night to beat the fellow Ferrari-powered team.

Hulkenberg who scored nine of those points, and Magnussen three. They are 16th and 19th in the 2023 F1 WDC standings with one round to go.