IndyCar star turned Formula 1 analyst James Hinchcliffe quipped that he \u201cmay have sorted some things out\u201d on the Haas car.<\/p>\n
He made that joke after it was put to him, during the F1 Nation podcast, that Haas<\/a> is a team on a roll ever since Hinchcliffe took part in a test with the American squad. At the Mexican Grand Prix, Oliver Bearman claimed his best Formula 1 result of fourth, with only the brilliance of Max Verstappen denying him and Haas a first podium.<\/p>\n James Hinchcliffe: The Haas lucky charm?<\/p>\n Last month, Haas continued their TPC [Testing of Previous Cars] programme \u2013 facilitated by their Toyota Gazoo Racing alliance \u2013 as they descended on the Mugello circuit in Italy. There, Hinchcliffe was behind the wheel of the VF-23, a car he shared with former Haas driver Romain Grosjean, who received his long-awaited farewell F1 run.<\/p>\n Haas\u2019 upgraded current challenger, the VF-25, meanwhile has been excelling, and hit new heights in Mexico with Bearman at the wheel. The F1 rookie crossed the line P4, and for a time was looking set to make the podium, before Verstappen pulled off a remarkable soft-tyre stint on a one-stop strategy, to claim the final podium place.<\/p>\n Hinchcliffe, six times an IndyCar race winner, was joined by former Sauber and Haas driver, turned Mercedes F1 ambassador Esteban Gutierrez on the Mexican GP edition of the F1 Nation podcast.<\/p>\n Host Tom Clarkson told Gutierrez: \u201cI don\u2019t know if you\u2019re aware of this, but Hinch drove a TPC day for Hass a few weeks back, and ever since then, they\u2019ve been going great guns. And I\u2019m convinced\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n At that point, Gutierrez took over with: \u201cHe brought the magic to the team!\u201d<\/p>\n Hinchcliffe, in response, joked: \u201cI may have, you know, sorted some things out on the car. It\u2019s no big deal, it\u2019s not a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n Latest Mexican GP talking points from PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Mexican sporting authority offers unofficial explanation into Liam Lawson marshal scare<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Lewis Hamilton calls out FIA as Brundle casts verdict \u2018others will not agree\u2019 with<\/a><\/p>\n But onto the more serious stuff, as Gutierrez delved into some driver talk, asking Hinchcliffe how he found the experience at the wheel of Haas\u2019 2023 car.<\/p>\n \u201cUnbelievable,\u201d he said. \u201cIt started in the wet, so it was not exactly your ideal starting [point]. Track I\u2019d never driven. Car I\u2019d never driven in the wet, but it dried out at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if the outing was in-line with his expectations of the car or differed, Hinchcliffe added: \u201cIt exceeded expectations.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, you go in knowing what it\u2019s capable of on paper, seeing it on TV, being able to judge from onboards compared to what an Indy car would do, sort of thing. But even then, you\u2019re just kind of blown away.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got to recalibrate what you think is possible behind the wheel of a car.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew the braking was going to be good, so did it impress me? Yes. But I sort of expected it. You know that the high speed is going to be unbelievable, and it was, and I sort of expected it.<\/p>\n \u201cThe one that blew me away, and this is getting a little inside baseball, a little driver talk, but combined traction. The potential and combined traction absolutely floored me, like, how early mid-corner, still fully loaded, you could just start feeding in the throttle. Rear didn\u2019t step out. It didn\u2019t squat down and make the front understeer.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, I was clearly way below the limit of the car because it was just doing everything you wanted it to do and then some. It was really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n Hinchcliffe must have been rather handy at the wheel, as Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu liked what he saw.<\/p>\n Asked by the media in Singapore how Hinchcliffe did driving the VF-23, Komatsu replied: \u201cThe thing is, we\u2019ve got nothing to compare against.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was very tricky conditions when he got in the car. He did it well and then finally, I think, he had one run with slick tyres, and he really enjoyed it.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I think it was really nice for somebody like him to actually get in our car to understand exactly what the current generation Formula 1 car feels like.\u201d<\/p>\n Haas is P8 in the F1 2025 Constructors\u2019 Championship<\/a> with four rounds to go. Bearman\u2019s Mexican GP heroics re-vitalised the team\u2019s hopes of claiming sixth, with Racing Bulls only 10 points up the road in that position.<\/p>\n