Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Staying at MP Motorsport for his third Formula 2 season has proven to be a fruitful decision so far for Dennis Hauger.
No longer a Red Bull junior, the 21-year-old has quickly adapted to F2’s new car and sits third in the standings after three rounds.
He took a fastest lap at Bahrain, won Jeddah’s sprint race and came third in the feature race, then claimed pole in Melbourne where he was sprint race runner-up and was contending for feature race victory before a mistake on his outlap with cold tyres resulted in a race-ending accident.
Despite missing out on many points through that, his tally of 43 is still his most ever after six races of a campaign and he is feeling strong off “progress and experience”.
“Obviously, we get better with the experience, so I feel like I’m in a good place now,” he told Formula Scout during in-season testing at Barcelona. “It’s been tough enough to get my ground like I did in Formula 4 and Formula 3. So finally be more or less where I want to be here and sort of feel confident again in the car, it’s a good feeling.”
He now knows what to “want in the car and with the team”.
“I feel like that’s been a bit of a struggle for me in F2 with the old car. But to now feel more comfortable and know what I want more [has been key]. Obviously the experience is important, and I think that’s one of the keys to make me more comfortable with this car now and be able to perform like we do.
“I would say generally the old F2 car was a bit unnatural to drive in terms of driving style,” he explained. “It’s not comparable to F3. It’s not the same. So I feel like this is a bit more of a similar step throughout the ladder in the junior categories. It just feels a bit more natural now to be in that type of a driving style car. And with the experience with the team, we work well to finetune things on the car and build up something good. So that’s a part of it.
“It’s a bit more normal to drive, let’s say. I don’t know how to explain it otherwise.”
Hauger has made no drastic changes as a driver, and his compatability with the Dallara F2 2024 leaves him encouraged for the rest of the season.
“My motivation is high, the highest it has ever been,” he stated. “I think the way I approach a weekend or work my way up, it’s the same. I have more knowledge now to build up more things around me to perform at the maximum with the trainer and everything. But overall, I feel like I’m doing the same things. Just maybe fine-tuning them a bit better.”
F2’s CEO Bruno Michel recently told media including Formula Scout that “Hauger now is back in a very strong state of mind”.