Kevin Magnussen will start today’s Canadian Grand Prix from 14th on the grid, after anticipating the rain in Q2 left him without fresh tyres at the end of the session, as the rain never fully materialised. So when asked whether this was all that was in the car, the Haas-driver could do nothing but agree.
“More or less, I think. I think maybe there was a bit more in it, but we used our new set in Q2 in the first run, anticipating wet at the end.
“So, yeah, it didn’t come. So, you know, the guys that had new tyres at the end had the track evolution and, you know, it’s so tight these days that those things can mean a lot.”
Magnussen finished Q1 in 13th, outqualifying his teammate Nico Hülkenberg for the third time this season as he carried over his strong pace from Monaco and managed to execute it in qualifying this time.
He hopes to leave Montreal with a better result than Monaco, where he eliminated both himself and Hülkenberg in a first-lap incident that also took out Sergio Pérez.
Overall the Dane was satisfied with how the weekend is progressing until now, having no issues and a smooth qualifying, except for the ever looming rain that threatened the session.
“I think this weekend has been pretty smooth and the car has been pretty decent the whole time,” the one-time podium finisher explained. “And we didn’t have any traffic or any problems in qualifying, so it was nice to at least have a pretty clean qualifying, although the weather meant it didn’t feel completely clean.
“But, yeah, had we had the guts to save the new tyres for the end of Q2, I think we could have gained a few more positions.
“But I did a really good lap on that new tyre in the first run, so happy with that at least.”
