The Haas Formula 1 team is in ecstasy after the season opener in Bahrain – Kevin Magnussen finishes a sensational fifth on his comeback
Kevin Magnussen can’t believe his luck after the Formula 1 race in Bahrain. Just a fortnight ago, the Dane wasn’t even part of the Haas team, while on race Sunday he managed to record the team’s best individual result since the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix.
Visibly relieved, team boss Günther Steiner said. When asked about Magnussen’s performance, the Tyrolean praised him: “He came back full of energy and you have to consider that he hasn’t driven a Formula 1 car for 14 months. Just imagine if he hadn’t taken time off he would have finished on the podium,” he adds with a wink.
Steiner also has nothing but praise for the team: “To come back like today, after the last two years, is incredible. You can’t really write a story like that. When you think where we were just a month ago, and today we’re fifth. “
Change of drivers was the right decision
Steiner pats himself on the back for the decision to bring the Dane back into the team: “There was a reason why we chose him. We have to give ourselves some credit for that. It was the right decision to make the change of driver. “
Kevin Magnussen is also overjoyed after his comeback: “I really enjoyed it. It’s great to be back in this position and I can only thank the team. We had the strongest car in the midfield and I could even see the Mercedes for almost the whole race.”
“I can’t repeat myself enough. I just can’t believe I got this chance and today P5. It’s crazy,” Magnussen said. At the start of the race, he even battled against the two Mercedes drivers and Sergio Perez in the Red Bull.
Haas Best of the Rest again in Saudi Arabia?
In hindsight, however, he admits that it would have been smarter not to have tangled with the Mercedes, because he caught a brake plate in the duel. According to Magnussen, however, it was a difficult decision, as he could not assess exactly how much faster the top teams could go.
He said he was pleasantly surprised by the racing in the race. According to Magnussen, driving behind has become “much better”, so that he wonders whether overtaking is perhaps too easy now. On the other hand, the slipstream effect is no longer as great as in previous years.
After his first Formula 1 races since December 2020, the Haas driver admits the physical strain wasn’t as great as he thought: “My neck is pretty stiff, but I’m not as exhausted as I thought I would be.”
For the upcoming race in Saudi Arabia, Magnussen expects to fight at the front of the midfield again. He singles out the two Alpines, Pierre Gasly in the Alpha Tauri and Valtteri Bottas in the Alfa Romeo, as his main opponents. “If we were to finish seventh in Jeddah, that would be just as good as today,” said Magnussen, because they were “lucky” today with the two Red Bull retirements.
