Despite finishing where he started, Kevin Magnussen had a very eventful Las Vegas GP on Saturday night.
Points always seemed unlikely from the early stages. He slipped back to P15 in the opening 10 laps as he struggled with graining on the mediums.
As he ran until lap 17 with Haas going for a one-stop strategy on his side of the garage, the 32-year-old ran as high as P6 at one point, until he got swallowed up by the Ferraris, McLarens, Hamilton and Tsunoda before finally pitting.
A very strong stint on the hards allowed him to claw his way back up to P12, holding off two-stop runners like Franco Colapinto and Zhou Guanyu in the closing stages.
A review of the strategy
Speaking afterwards, Magnussen says he was a sitting duck on the mediums as the fresh hard runners came through, believing the two-stop was the better strategy.
“Well it was quicker.
“I think we were the only car on one-stop which didn’t seem like the right thing but here we are.
“I have to go and ask.
“Yeah absolutely [that I was an outlier on the one-stop]. But [it] didn’t pay off and it seemed like a stretch.
“I was just nowhere on the on the medium and kept going kept going kept going, but I’d already lost all the positions to everyone, so you’re kind of at the point of no return at that point.
“But yeah, not great.”
Realising it was game over
The first of the two-stoppers came in on lap 10. Haas extended the first stint with both cars, meaning Magnussen was undercut by everyone around him apart from Valtteri Bottas, leaving him in P18 at one point.
In the cockpit, the Danish driver knew points were not on the table as soon as they allowed the undercuts to happen.
“No [I didn’t ask to try something different], because I realised it was a point of no return. Everyone’s overtaken now, undercut.
“So you either pit then and go behind everyone on the same strategy or try something else.
“So I think once once we got there, it was game over.”
Powerless on mediums
Asked if he could have done anything else to avoid the graining on the mediums apart from driving slower, Magnussen explained how everyone apart from the Mercedes drivers seemed to struggle on mediums.
“Drive slower, yeah, which when you’re being overtaken already it’s not what you want to do.
“I think everyone struggled on the medium but everyone went off it and we stayed out, so lost a bunch of time there.
Strong hard tyre stint
In the early stages of his hard tyre stint, Magnussen managed them carefully to get to the end. Initially allowing cars in front to extend the gap, he showed strong pace once the two-stoppers pitted again to finish 12th.
“Yeah and we were quick I think on the hard tyre. If you look at that stint it was a really, really strong stint.
“It’s just I had to come from last back up to 12th.
“So, not great.”
Three-wide with Pérez and Lawson
Magnussen was involved in a couple of intense battles during the Las Vegas GP, including going three-wide into turn 14 with Sergio Pérez and Liam Lawson at one point as the Mexican pulled off a superb pass.
“Yeah but that’s fine, right? It’s racing,” said the Dane.
Unhappy with Lawson
In the 50-lap Grand Prix, Magnussen had multiple battles with RB’s Liam Lawson.
One of them included a battle on the run down towards the start-finish line where the Haas driver got in the slipstream of the Kiwi. Lawson defended to the inside.
Although Magnussen was particularly happen with his movements, no action was taken by the stewards .
“I wasn’t happy, he was like moving [around]. I was right behind him in the slipstream and he couldn’t decide which way to go and that’s not a good thing.
“But I guess it wasn’t too bad [as] they looked at it and decided [not to investigate].”
The fight for P6
Nico Hülkenberg’s P8 finish moved Haas back ahead of Alpine by a point in the Constructors’ Championship as they fight for 6th.
Nonetheless, the 2014 Australian Grand Prix podium finisher is aware the job is not job heading into the last two events.
“Absolutely [vital points], yeah.
“Back in the position we want but still very close.
“Still two races and a Sprint to go, so lots can happen.”
