Kevin Magnussen believes his Renault Sport F1 team are in a good position to contend for points in the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday after qualifying fourteenth on the grid.
The Dane feels the team are in a much better position than usual after qualifying, with Magnussen even feeling a shot of getting into Q3 could have been possible but for a lock up into the first turn on his final attempt.
Magnussen hopes the teams race pace can make its qualifying performance on race day as Renault look for only their third top ten finish of 2016.
“It’s a very good result for us in qualifying; P14 is much better than usual in terms of setting us up for scoring some points in the race,” said Magnussen.
“But it’s an ambivalent result as I felt so close to Q3 that I couldn’t resist giving it everything I’ve got on my final run; I locked up in turn 1 and lost the lap. I didn’t improve after that so it’s unfortunate.
“From P14, not a lot has to happen in the top ten for us to get points, which is always the aim. Let’s see tomorrow, hopefully our race pace is as good as qualifying today. You never really know how it will go here, so fingers crossed!”
