Kevin Magnussen was relieved to avoid a crash in qualifying for the United States Grand Prix on a day when Haas rolled out its biggest in-season update on a car in its eight-season F1 history.
The VF-23s of Magnussen and team-mate Nico Hulkenberg are sporting a ‘Red Bull’ concept with its bodywork, which includes a new floor, engine cover, sidepod inlet, sidepods, quarter panel, and padding gills
Magnussen appeared more at ease with the car through the single practice session in which he was fifth quickest, before posting the seventh fastest time in Q1 around the Circuit of the Americas.
Believing he had a car beneath him to make Q3, Magnussen’s two laps in Q2 were, by his own admission, “bad”.
Assessing the upgrade package, he said: “There were some positive signs in both free practice and Q1, but then I didn’t do a good job in Q2, unfortunately.
“I’m still kind of just learning this car again, getting to know it, and I made two bad laps in Q2, but was still only around two-tenths (0.304s) from Q3.”
One of those laps almost proved catastrophic for the Dane, who added: “I nearly lost the car completely in sector one, so I’m surprised I didn’t crash.
“But the moment I had, there was clearly a lot more time in the car in Q2, which I didn’t extract.”
Asked by Speedcafe to at least expand on the positives, the Dane is keeping his powder dry for now.
“I have some feelings,” said Magnussen. “But I don’t want to conclude anything yet because it’s a different track, different Tarmac, different wind conditions, different compounds to the last time.
“It’s very hard to compare in such detail, but I feel something. It will take more time to verify.”
Magnussen insists the acid test for the car will be how it performs in Sunday’s race as the team’s previous incarnation often went backward during grands prix due to the rapid degradation of its tyres, especially when in traffic.
“The real question, the real test is on Sunday,” remarked Magnussen.
“We know the old car could do one lap. That’s not the question. I was P6 three races ago in qualifying in Singapore, so we know we can do it over one lap.
“So again, the real question is on Sunday, whether the car is better on the tyres, if the performance is better. That’s what we’re really looking for. It’s not really whether we’re a little bit better on one lap or not.”
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