Kevin Magnussen believes the opening day of practice at the Monaco Grand Prix wasn’t the best day for Renault Sport F1 Team.
Magnussen finished Free Practice 1 behind the Sauber of Felipe Nasr in seventeenth with a time of 1:18.274. During the practice the Dane had problems with braking heading towards the chicane but was able to correct himself by straight lining through the chicane.
In the second session, Magnussen was able to improve on his FP1 time and set a fastest lap time of 1:17.530. Even with this improvement, the session was cut short after he crashed out on the final corner, not a typical accident-prone location at the Circuit de Monaco.
Magnussen’s RS16 was one of the cars to run Renault’s upgraded power unit, he believes the engine delivered and it’s a decent improvement from the previous engine but believes there is still work to do on the set-up.
“It wasn’t the best day for us,” said Magnussen. “We thought we’d made a step forward at the Barcelona test but on this track we didn’t have the car we expected.
“The latest spec engine certainly delivered and it’s a decent improvement, but we still have work to do on the set-up and, of course, finding more downforce. It was unfortunate to end the second session early. I just understeered into the wall; I turned in and I just had no grip.
“The data showed I wasn’t going any faster than the lap before so it’s frustrating. Thankfully the only damage was to the front wing which makes it easy for my crew as that’s just one bolt-on part.”
