Kevin Magnussen said he was unable to match the pace of team-mate Romain Grosjean during Qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix, with the Frenchman able to get more out of the VF17 when the car has an unstable rear end.
Both Haas F1 Team racers made it through to Q2 at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace on Saturday, but whilst Grosjean was able to get close to Q3, Magnussen was 0.275 seconds behind his team-mate, which he felt was down to his driving style not suiting the set-up of the car.
“I think Romain got the most out of the car today,” said Magnussen. “He did a good job with the car we have this weekend.
“I did less of a good job in qualifying. When the car is like it is – unstable in the rear – Romain is just very strong. I struggle a bit more with that. I’m not too unhappy with the result today because the car hasn’t been to my driving style this weekend.”
Despite this, Magnussen still feels points could be possible in Brazil, especially as he moves up to thirteenth on the grid thanks to Daniel Ricciardo’s grid penalty, and he will take some motivation from the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago where against the odds after a Q1 elimination, he claimed an eighth place finish.
“We’ll see what happens in the race,” said Magnussen. “The race pace didn’t look any worse than our qualifying pace, so with some luck tomorrow, we could be up for some more points.
“That’s what we’re aiming for.”
