Magnussen hails 'step forward' for Haas after Leclerc battle

Kevin Magnussen feels that Haas made a "good step forward" during the Miami Grand Prix weekend after the Dane secured a points finish.

With Saturday's qualifying session brought to an early end following a crash for Charles Leclerc, Magnussen secured P4 on the grid for the event and went on to battle with several leading cars during the race, including a scrap with Leclerc in the opening stages.

Magnussen went on to finish the Grand Prix in P10, scoring a point for Haas in what is proving to be a close midfield fight.

Magnussen reflects on 'strong weekend'

While Magnussen had hoped to claim more than one point at the Miami International Autodrome, he remains pleased with the result.

"I think it's been a strong weekend, very solid," he told media, including RacingNews365.com.

"Obviously I was dreaming of a little more than one point, but I think all the big teams finished the race and had no problems, so it was a pretty difficult race to score points.

"There [were] no gifts as such and I still got one point, so I'm pretty happy with that. [There was] probably a little more degradation than I'd love to have, but I think we made a good step forward this weekend."

Battling with Leclerc

Magnussen was disappointed to lose places at the race start and admits that his subsequent fight with Leclerc did not help his tyres.

"I had a s****y start and then had a long fight with Leclerc, which was tough on my tyres and [I] probably should have looked after my tyres a little more in hindsight," the Haas driver said.

"But anyway, I think we had a strong day and got one point."

Starting from P4 on the grid enabled Magnussen to battle with cars he is not frequently close to on track. This was something that he enjoyed, though he admits that he would rather have track position in the first place.

"It's fun to race, of course," the 30-year-old explained.

"But I would have preferred to not race and just be in front."