Kevin Magnussen hopes Haas F1 can achieve sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship by the end of the season, and this will be made possible by the different approach to car modernization that the American team is taking this year.
Q: Formula 1 returned to China after a five-year break – what can you say about your impressions?
Kevin Magnussen: The impressions are funny: I haven’t been here for a long time, but it feels like even more time has passed! However, it is good that we are back here and there is also a chance that we can act with confidence.
Q: They say there will be some technical innovations on Haas machines this weekend?
Kevin Magnussen: Yes, and that’s encouraging, even if these updates aren’t revolutionary. They cannot be called large-scale, but it is only the early stages of the season and the team is already upgrading the car.
We’re eager to see how the new features work, and while we don’t expect them to make that much of a difference, we hope we can continue to make small improvements to the VF-24 throughout the year. Taken together, these updates could have a significant impact as the battle for sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship is very intense and every split second played is important.
Q: Has the team changed its approach? After all, Haas used to prefer an integrated approach to machine modernization and rarely implemented updates, but those were of larger scale…
Kevin Magnussen: Yes, and now we are taking a more reasonable approach instead of hoping that one big set of new products will allow us to grow strongly. When updates are introduced gradually, you can adjust the direction of the modernization if something goes wrong. Overall I am optimistic, including hoping that we can perform well this weekend.
Question: Do you think that if everything is done correctly, it will be possible to count on reaching the qualifying finals?
Kevin Magnussen: I think there are always such opportunities, although in the championship there is a clear division of teams into two groups. I hope we can break into the top ten, because our job is to challenge the team currently in sixth place, and this is not easy. Visa RB is quite competitive right now, but I want to believe we can fight this on an equal footing.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
