Kevin Magnussen believes that Haas' change in fortunes at the Australian Grand Prix was down to the track not suiting their car, and thus remains hopeful that the team can bounce back. The American outfit had a strong start to the 2022 campaign, with Magnussen - whose return to F1 was only confirmed less than two weeks before the opening event of the season - scoring points at the first couple of races. However, it proved to be a more challenging weekend for Magnussen and teammate Mick Schumacher at the Albert Park Circuit, and both drivers finished outside of the top 10.
Magnussen: We made a small gamble
Magnussen thinks that Haas took some chances on strategy in the race which ultimately did not pay off. "[It was] good fun, [and a] nice track," the Danish driver said after the Grand Prix. "[I'm disappointed] not to get points today. We made a small gamble, I would say, with the Hard tyre, because we felt like we were faster than our opposition, which we were. "But, again, [the] Safety Car came and ruined completely the strategy. We know that's the gamble, but it's happened two times now [having happened at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix], so it's a bummer. We'll take them next time!"
Why was Australia a more difficult weekend for Haas?
Despite feeling that a strategy gamble played a part in their failure to score points, Magnussen admits that Haas had some struggles throughout the weekend in the build-up to Sunday's race. However, rather than this being a concerning sign for their prospects going forward, the 29-year-old believes that the team's problems in Australia were due to the VF-22 not adapting as well to the Albert Park Circuit as it had done at previous venues. "I think this was an outlier," Magnussen explained. "The starting set-up that we had here wasn't good, and also we were struggling a little bit with tyres on this new tarmac. "But we turned it around, and were able to get much closer to the pack in the race. We actually had pretty decent pace. "[We] outraced the Alpine of Fernando [Alonso], and he almost qualified on the front row yesterday. So, looking at that, that's positive. We were able to turn things around, and, we'll score points next time."
Most read
