Kevin Magnussen has conceded to experiencing “a paradox” with Haas at present as he feels the team is the strongest it has been in its F1 history yet has delivered one of its weakest cars this season.
Magnussen suffered another miserable weekend behind the wheel of the VF-23, starting 19th on the grid before going on to finish last of the 18 classified after retirements for AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon in his Alpine.
With team-mate Nico Hulkenberg ahead of him, the duo were the only drivers to finish a lap down on race winner Max Verstappen in his Red Bull.
In a bid to propel Magnussen up the order, the Dane started on the hard tyres in the hope of running long, only to pit on lap 13. Adjustments were also made to the front-wing flap angle due to his difficulties in the first stint. At that stage, the writing was on the wall, with a second stop compounding his misery.
Suggested to Magnussen that starting on the hard compound was a roll of the dice in a bid to try something different, he said: “It should have been possible (to go long), but we just had no grip at all, and the car was so over balanced, there was no chance.
“We couldn’t even take anything off on our front wing, the flap couldn’t go down low enough – horrendous, really bad!
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“We had talked about going all the way to the end on that first hard, then hoping for a late safety car or doing as (Alex) Albon did in Melbourne (making his only stop with one lap remaining), trying something like that. But no chance whatsoever.”
With just two points from 14 races, Magnussen is on course for what would be his second-worst season in F1 if there are no further improvements to the car over the final eight races, although updates are due.
Asked by Speedcafe whether it was one of the more frustrating periods of his career, he replied: “Certainly one of the weakest, it seems.
“I still believe the team is in a stronger place than it has been, yet it’s just a paradox that we have probably one of the weakest cars we’ve had.
“With the strong foundation that I see in the team, we can do a lot better, and I think we will do a lot better. It really is a patience game. It’s about really sticking it out with what we have at the moment and waiting for better things.
“Work is being done in the background, and we just have to be patient until we can bring those parts to the car.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got a job to do, and we need to crack on until we get those parts.
“We can’t cry about what we’ve got at the moment, we’ve just got to work with what we have, and always try to get something out of it, no matter how difficult it looks.”
The 30-year-old has confirmed to investing his time in between race weekends to offer all the help he can to the team in a bid to address the weaknesses the car possesses.
“It’s important to be there and support, give all the feedback that is needed, and at the same time put faith in them and give them peace to go and work on their stuff,” said Magnussen.
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