Kevin Magnussen only had one free practice session to get used to the 2017 cars around the Silverstone circuit, with the Haas F1 Team racer sitting out first practice to allow Antonio Giovinazzi some track time, but the Dane did not take long to get up to speed.
Magnussen completed thirty-three laps on Friday afternoon, ending up seventeenth fastest, but he was less than two-tenths of a second shy of team-mate Romain Grosjean.
Heading into the weekend, he knows the team still have work to do to have a competitive British Grand Prix, but he said it was an amazing feeling to drive the 2017 cars around Silverstone on Friday.
“Initially, it was just about getting used to the car and the track as quickly as possible after sitting out FP1,” said Magnussen. “I got into it fairly quickly.
“The wind wasn’t too bad today, but even then it still has an effect – that’s always the case here at Silverstone where it’s very flat and open. I don’t know what it’s going to do tomorrow, but if there is wind it will have an effect.
“Regardless, it was amazing driving these cars here and it lived up to expectations. It was amazing just how fast we go through the corners, especially the high-speed bits.
“We have a few things we need to dial in for tomorrow, but I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do.”
