Kevin Magnussen felt he did all that he could during qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix on Saturday, with fourteenth on the grid the result of his efforts at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
The Renault Sport Formula 1 Team racer felt that even with a perfect lap during qualifying, he probably would not have qualified any higher than he did, and revealed that he was struggling with the balance and handling of his RS16, and with getting his tyres working properly as well.
“I’m fairly pleased with qualifying,” said Magnussen. “FP3 was tricky for us, the car handled very strangely and tyres weren’t working which I think was down to the cool temperatures.
“Qualifying felt better and I don’t think I could have done much more today. Even if I got a perfect lap I think P13 was likely out of reach here.”
Team-mate Jolyon Palmer was forced to miss qualifying after a crack was found on his chassis after final practice, and the British racer will start from the pit lane on Sunday with a car built around a new chassis.
Palmer revealed that running over a kerb caused the damage, but he was surprised that something so minor could damage the car sufficiently that he was forced to watch qualifying from the sidelines.
“Unfortunately I had to sit out qualifying which was really frustrating as we looked pretty good in FP3 and I’ve been feeling happy with the car,” said Palmer. “I ran wide and straddled the kerb in the last corner during FP3.
“I felt a bump, but it didn’t feel like it was a big one, so I was surprised when we discovered the chassis was broken. Q2 was definitely on the cards today. We’re going to have to go all out to get points tomorrow.”
