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Kevin Magnussen is adamant he will not take a “holier than thou” approach after a dismal season for Haas in which he recognises he has been part of the problem.
For only the second time in the team’s eight-year history, Haas finished bottom of the constructors’ championship, the previous occasion in 2021 when rookie duo Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin failed to score a point between them.
The experienced pairing of Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg at least managed 12, with the Dane three of those, the second-worst total of his eight-season F1 career.
The VF-23 became notorious for possessing reasonable qualifying pace on occasion, only to fall backward during a race due to high tyre degradation, particularly when in traffic.
Although a significant upgrade was fitted ahead of the United States Grand Prix, Haas continued to struggle to such an extent that Hulkenberg reverted to the old spec of car for the final two races in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi.
Through it all, both drivers maintained a dignified attitude towards the team, refusing to criticise when it would have been easy to have done so, with Magnussen firmly believing in Haas’ potential.
“I don’t think it helps to sell the team cheap to you guys (the media),” said Magnussen. “It’s a team sport, we’re all involved and we’re all responsible.
“I don’t want to stand here being holier than thou. I’m part of this problem, if you want, as is every team member in Haas.
“We need to stick together and come back like we have done in the past.
“This team has shown great potential for a long time and it’s about time we hit our marks on a consistent basis because the talent and the potential in this team is very big, and I want to be there to push it forward and show what we can do.”
After finishing 20th and last in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Magnussen did concede that he was “just happy to close this year and move on to the next one”.
Asked by Speedcafe whether there was any positive he could take from this season going into 2024, he replied: “As always, there are many things you learn when it’s this tough that you wouldn’t have learned if it was smooth sailing.
“It’s character building, and it’s strengthening. You get resilient, you build up resilience to hard times.
“It’s not something I enjoy, I haven’t enjoyed this year too much, but there’s always another day to fight, and next year is another big opportunity for us.”
