Magnussen: It is important to understand whether progress has been made

Kevin Magnussen is in a pretty good mood after his first session behind the wheel of the new Haas F1 car, which he spent on the first day of winter testing in Bahrain, and the Dane also shared his expectations regarding the change in team management.

Kevin Magnussen: “I’m in a very good mood, the tests in the morning went well, I don’t feel any problems with my physical condition. It’s always great to get behind the wheel of a car again after a winter break.

I think today’s first session went well. We focused on simulating the race and trying to solve the tire performance issues that plagued us last year. This is our main task for now.

We are pleased with what we saw during the first session, but there is still a lot of work to be done. Everyone wants to study the characteristics of the new car and understand whether we have made progress. There were some minor issues with the fuel system during the session, but we resolved them and the track work continued. We lost some time, but there are always some problems during tests, so that’s normal.”

Kevin was also asked to talk about the atmosphere in the team after the leadership change, as the dismissed Gunther Steiner was replaced as head of Haas F1 by Ayo Komatsu.

“In my opinion the team is in a very good mood, everyone wants changes for the better, although I don’t think anyone had anything against Gunther,” replied Magnussen. – Most employees considered themselves members of a large family. But at the end of the day, we are here to compete with others, to perform well, but we have not been able to make the progress we expected.

Formula 1 is a technical sport, so it is good that Ayo is leading the team, because from the very beginning he was Haas F1’s chief racing engineer, and we have to modernize the car at an accelerated pace. I think this will make a difference in the future.”