Both Haas riders dropped out in the early part of qualifying for the team’s home game in the USA – Kevin Magnussen set the 16th fastest time, Mick Schumacher – 19th. Kevin and Mick will regain their position on the starting grid thanks to the penalties from the rivals and expect to compete for points in the race.
Kevin Magnussen (16th): “Except for the first corner, I had a good lap. I lost three tenths in the first corner because I ran into a bump, although this was no problem all weekend. However, during qualifying, the car bounced badly for some reason.
Hitting a bump made me lose control of the rear of the car – it took me three tenths, although just one hundredth wasn’t enough to get into the second part. A little embarrassing.
Sunday will be a new day, on this track you can fight and catch up. If we have the pace, we can bounce back.”
Mick Schumacher (19th): “The pace was good – the car was allowed to reach the second part and had the potential to go to the final. Too bad we couldn’t show it. It’s windy and there are a lot of bumps on this track – you have to drive on the limit and I turned around in the first corner. We don’t know what the result could have been, but all indications were that it should be high.
I didn’t get to work well in the third practice, but we will study the telemetry from Kevin’s car to get the car ready for the race. I hope we have the potential to come back and fight for points.”
Gunther Steiner, team leader: “We didn’t expect such a result. We could have at least qualified for the second part of qualifying, but we didn’t.
Third practice was ruined by machine problems in Mick’s car – the ERS cooling system pump failed. He was able to get back on the track, but the preparation is still far from ideal.
In qualifying, both drivers failed to set the second fastest lap. Given the density of results in the middle group, it is possible to both get into the final and knock out the first part – we dropped out.
Kevin’s speed on the long series of laps was promising, so we’re hoping to be in the middle group in the race. From 15th and 18th position we can participate – now we have to prepare for the race.”
Source: F1 News
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