Kevin Magnussen felt the Renault Sport F1 team had a stronger RS16 at the Hungaroring than in recent races despite having to settle for fifteenth position on race day.
The Dane was disappointed with his start in Hungary, losing a few positions as a result, and then was stuck behind the Haas F1 Team duo of Esteban Gutierrez and Romain Grosjean in the final stages of the race.
Magnussen is hoping the improved form seen in Hungary is a sign of things to come for a team that have already decided to shift their focus onto the design of their 2017 machine rather to continue the development of the RS16.
“The car definitely felt better this weekend,” said Magnussen. “I had a pretty decent stint on my first set of Supersoft tyres; I was able to look after them well and do quite a few laps on that set.
“Unfortunately that was after a poor start where I lost a few positions. I’ve had really good practice starts all weekend so that was quite disappointing.
“From then on, we pushed to make up places but my second stint on supersoft didn’t go as well as I hoped and the last part of the race was spent behind Grosjean and Gutierrez. I certainly hope we can carry our improved pace into the rest of the season.”
