Kevin Magnussen felt Renault’s decision to stick to their pre-race plan of making two pit stops ultimately cost the team a better result at the Hockenheimring on Sunday, with the Dane dropping down from points contention to finish down in sixteenth.
The Dane was running as high as eighth during the early stages of the German Grand Prix but the two-stop strategy saw him unable to maintain that position, with hindsight proving that making three pit stops would have been the quicker way to go, especially with Magnussen struggling for pace on the Soft compound.
Magnussen admitted the team were too committed to their two-stop strategy to be able to switch to three, and was naturally disappointed to drop well away from the points-paying positions.
“We decided on a two-stop strategy before the race as all the data pointed to it being the correct thing to do, however we saw that the three-stop strategy of our rivals worked better today,” said Magnussen.
“This wasn’t immediately obvious and we were too committed to the two-stop so it’s a lesson learnt. We were too slow on the soft compound on the final stint and our degradation on the Supersoft was greater than expected which undid our opportunities of finishing higher today.”
