After taking the lead into the opening corner of the race, Red Bull junior Dennis Hauger went on to take his second Formula 2 victory of the season in the Hungarian sprint race last Saturday. However, while basking in his glory, an honest Hauger told Feeder Series and selected media that “it’s a step forward, but not where we want to be.”

By Tyler Foster

Coming into the ninth round of the year, the Norwegian driver was experiencing a tough time with his new MP Motorsport squad. Following an average qualifying session around the Hungaroring for their duo – Hauger and Jehan Daruvala – the pair lined up second and third respectively for Saturday’s sprint.

“The groundwork [MP Motorsport have] done for this weekend is good, especially for the race pace,” Hauger said after the race. “So, I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do here in the feature.” The 20-year-old went on to finish a decent seventh on Sunday and now sits seventh in the championship standings with four rounds remaining.

With Campos Racing’s Kush Maini on the reverse-grid pole, the Indian was the target for the MP Motorsport drivers. Hauger admitted after the race that his overtake for the lead into turn one wasn’t as simple as it seemed.

“To be honest, I didn’t have the best start. Got some wheel spin and I think the guys behind were pushing quite a lot. Kush [Maini] had the same start as me to be fair. [I] just got a bit of slipstream and could out on the inside. It was quite tight, but he kept the space and managed just to brake at the same time as him and make the corner. It was a bit sketchy there, close to the wall, but it was fun. 

“After that, it was just about managing and trying to keep it clean. It’s always quite tough [around the Hungaroring] in terms of tyre management.”

Following his strong getaway, the MP driver took control of the event and gapped DAMS’ Ayumu Iwasa, not allowing his fellow Red Bull junior a chance at gaining the DRS. Once the race settled, Iwasa looked impending, but his Norwegian rival was able to pull away once again and take victory by a margin of four seconds.

“In the end, we were pushing a bit back and forth, me and Ayumu [Iwasa]. In the middle [phase] of the race, it was just about managing and staying quite clean. Then you try to pick up the pace towards the end and see where you are at.” 

It has been a wait of almost four months for Hauger to reappear on the Formula 2 rostrum, and once again it is via the sprint race, having achieved all three of his podiums this season on Saturdays. The extent of his joy within celebrations following the chequered flag was clearly something that has been missing from Hauger’s recent career. Certainly, a big change since his days as the 2021 FIA Formula 3 champion.

“It’s nice to have the feeling of being on the top step of the podium again,” Hauger said. “The team deserve it, and I think we worked hard to get up there. Race pace has always been good, so finally starting a bit forward, we can show that we’re meant to be up there. It’s been a bit too long a time since we were there, but it’s always good to be back up, and hopefully, we can gain some rhythm now.”

After nine rounds of this campaign, Hauger has a similar points tally to this time last year, having scored just nine more points in 2023. Having joined the reigning Formula 2 champion MP Motorsport team after an underwhelming time as a rookie with Prema, the expectations for improvement have not been met. Feeder Series asked the race winner what was preventing both him and MP from experiencing more success from their season together thus far. 

“Mainly just qualifying for us. If we were up there pulling the P1 in every qualifying [session], I would obviously really try to figure out what I’m doing wrong, but it’s been a bit tough [in] qualifying [for the team], especially for me sometimes on that second set, which is the main thing I’ve been working on.

“Other than that, the race pace has always been there to be fair most of the times, if we haven’t had any issues outside of our control. Like today, we proved that we had good race pace once we were up there. It’s just mainly our qualifying that puts us off every weekend. At least this weekend we are starting in the top ten. It’s a step forward, but not where we want to be, or for sure where I want to be. I want to be up there fighting for the championship, but a lot of things have happened this year that have lost us a lot of points.”

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool