Haas F1 Team scored a double-points finish with Nico Hulkenberg sixth, and Kevin Magnussen eighth, at the Austrian Grand Prix. Despite such a performance at the Red Bull Ring, Magnussen was quick to say post-race “I don’t think it’s a breakthrough. I think it’s just a good weekend.”
Magnussen had a strong start to Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix after utilising his medium tyre compound following his P12 start. K-Mag soon found himself running in the points as Haas chose to stop the Dane on Lap 10 for hard tyres and then repeated the move on Lap 38. This found Magnussen in an impressive P9 but in fact became one place higher after the retirement of Lando Norris in the closing laps after his dramatic collision with Max Verstappen.
For good measure, Magnussen was able to keep RB’s Daniel Ricciardo at bay right up to the finish line with the Australian racer less than a second behind when the chequered flag fell.
“Myself, P8 and Nico, P6, 12 points for the team. That’s a pretty good day,” said Magnussen. “Put us back in the run for P7 in the championship and I couldn’t be more happy.”
The outcome could have been very different for Haas had the close racing between teammates (which was seen early in the race) resulted in catastrophe. Magnussen made his thoughts clear about the close racing on his team radio and was reminded post-race that he didn’t sound too happy about the battle with Nico – but was quick to dampen any comments on it.
“I mean, it was just a heat in the moment,” accepted Magnussen. “I attacked him as he came out of the pits, then he attacked me back. I thought, OK, let’s settle down here.”
Magnussen also expressed interest on team radio about the performance of the Alpine drivers and was asked post-race as to how encouraging beating them was – particularly as they are becoming faster and faster.
“Yeah, very important.” said Magnussen. “They’re going to be scoring points from now on – the teams. I just think we have to keep the heat on.”
Magnussen went on to praise his team: “Certainly, it’s our best result this year. We’ve just looked strong. Nico turned his weekend around, been super strong ever since qualifying, and then again today. So, yeah, great weekend.”
The 31-year-old was then asked as to whether he has been able to pin the strong performance on anything and why there’s been that kind of breakthrough?
“I don’t know. I don’t think it’s a breakthrough. I think it’s just a good weekend. Let’s see what we can take from here. We’re going to some difficult tracks for us now, so we’re not kidding ourselves. We have a lot of work to do, but this was a good bunch of points,” concluded Magnussen.
Last Sunday’s P6 and P8 is Haas F1 Team’s strongest result of the year and sees the American owned team in the lofty heights of P7 in the 2024 F1 Constructors’ Championship with an impressive 19 points on the board already and confidence high approaching Silverstone.
