Kevin Magnussen bemoaned his pit lane start following his practice error when he missed the signal to go to the weighbridge after missing out on points in eleventh during the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Renault Sport F1 driver enjoyed his afternoon on track, but felt that without the penalty he could have secured the teams’ first points since their return to Formula 1 at the beginning of the season.
Despite this, he feels the team are working really hard to improve their RS16, and they should benefit from the development programme with good results later in the season.
“Starting from the pit lane meant that it was always going to be a strategic race but I still had some fun fights out on track and we extracted all we had in the car today,” said Magnussen.
“We were so close to scoring points; it’s frustrating to think what could have been had we not incurred a penalty. In any case, the team did a good job this weekend, we’re working very well altogether and the car’s performance was encouraging.
“There are signs of good things to come for the team, including fantastic support from Renault; we have reason to smile. As long as we work really hard now, we will reap the benefits later.”
