Haas driver Kevin Magnussen commented on the upcoming Austrian Grand Prix, which will be held in the form of a Friday qualifying race weekend and Saturday sprint.
Q: Imola hosted the first sprint of the season. What did you learn in that phase and how do you evaluate this format in general?
Kevin Magnussen: Imola was my first sprint weekend. We had a good weekend, earning points in both the sprint and the feature race. Nice experience and I hope we get the same result in Austria.
When I watched the sprint last year, I wondered why no one wants to take risks. If we change the format a bit and qualifying on Friday will determine the starting positions of not only the sprint, but also the main race, then maybe the riders will take more risks in the sprint, without fearing for their Sunday starting position.
Q: The 2018 Austrian Grand Prix was the most successful round in Haas’ short history as you and your partner finished fourth and fifth. What are your memories of that race?
Kevin Magnussen: The team has achieved a great result. It was one of those days when a small team did something big and scored points with two cars. It was great that we were ahead of the big teams that day with limited resources.
Q: The track in Spielberg is known for its changeable weather. Given that the VF-22 was fast in the rain during qualifying in Montreal, are you looking forward to rain for the next round?
Kevin Magnussen: Apparently our car is fast on a wet track. When you’re more competitive in the rain, it’s only natural to always hope for rain. I’ve been karting in the rain a lot in Denmark, but I don’t think that’s the reason for my success. On wet roads the grip is much lower, so you have to steer on the edge. In any case, there are more risks in the rain, but it is more interesting to fly.
Q: The Austrian circuit is at an altitude of 677 meters above sea level, so the engines and brakes are struggling. How important is it to keep these systems working in new cars to ensure a finish?
Kevin Magnussen: It’s hard to say whether this type of track suits us or not. Our car looks about the same on almost all tracks and the difference in results has more to do with the tyres.
The Melbourne track was the only one where we weren’t competitive, but to a greater extent this is also due to tires not being able to get into the working range. So now it is difficult to predict what will happen in Austria.
Source: F1 News
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