Kevin Magnussen missed out on making it through to Q2 by less than a tenth of a second at the Hockenheimring on Saturday, instead seeing his Renault Sport F1 team-mate Jolyon Palmer make it through instead.
The Dane bemoaned a scruffy lap for not making it through, missing out on Q2 by just 0.080 seconds, but felt both himself and his team-mate were very evenly matched during the qualifying session.
Magnussen felt the team did not improve as much as their rivals did in between final practice and qualifying which left him down in seventeenth position, although he will start fifteenth once Carlos Sainz Jr and Romain Grosjean take their penalties, with the Dane feeling the long run pace should help them have a stronger race on Sunday.
“My lap wasn’t the best and I lost out by the smallest amount from getting into Q2,” said Magnussen. “Both cars were very evenly matched and it was Jo that got the upper hand today.
“We didn’t seem to be able to pick up the pace between FP3 and qualifying as much as our rivals however our long run pace does look more favourable and that’s what we need for a stronger result tomorrow.”
