Kevin Magnussen believes the United States Grand Prix was a pretty decent race considering his qualifying position of eighteenth.
The Renault Sport Formula 1 Team driver finished the Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in eleventh but was later handed a five-second penalty which demoted him to twelfth. Magnussen was passing Daniil Kvyat for eleventh but ran off track at Turn twelve at the end of the back straight in completing the move and did not give the place back to the Scuderia Toro Rosso driver.
After the race, the stewards investigated the incident and deemed Magnussen gained a “lasting advantage” by running off track, with them deciding to add five seconds to his race time which meant he dropped one place behind Kvyat to twelfth.
The Dane was frustrated about receiving the penalty but still had a fun Grand Prix as he was able to push hard to the chequered flag.
“We started with the plan for a one-stop strategy,” said Magnussen. “But we quickly realised that it wasn’t the best option so we swapped to a two and finally a three-stop strategy.
“It was tougher on tyre wear than we predicted but that did mean I was able to have some fun at the end of the race on the super soft tyres, it was the most fun I’ve had in the car all season, being able to push hard to the chequered flag. It was a pretty decent race considering our qualifying position. The penalty is frustrating, but that’s racing sometimes.”
