Kevin Magnussen hopes to take some of the knowledge learned during the Monaco Grand Prix weekend about the Hypersoft Pirelli tyre compound into this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, where the pink-banded tyre will have its second outing.
The Haas F1 Team driver raced with the Hypersoft for the very first time in Monaco, although he feels Pirelli could have gone even softer for the race around the principality.
However, Magnussen does not expect the same kind of problems to arise this weekend at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, particularly as he feels it will be simpler to get the heat into the Hypersoft’s than it was in Monaco.
“I think the Hypersoft tyre is a good tyre, though in Monaco I think it was still too hard – it was difficult to switch on,” said Magnussen. “Hopefully, in Canada it will be a little bit easier. You’ve got longer straights to put load on the tyres at high speed to switch them on.
“Of course, we learned a bit about the Hypersoft tyre in Monaco. We’re going to try and work with that information and get the best out of the tyre in Canada. It wasn’t particularly warm in Monaco, it was actually quite normal.
“I think that tarmac was about 40 degrees. I think sometimes it can be the same in Montreal. I don’t think it’s going to be too big a factor.”
Haas is introducing an update to its package this weekend in Canada, but Magnussen feels it will be just a normal Friday despite needing to find out just how the upgrades are working on the car.
“In FP1 we’re going to do some aero running to get numbers on the aero sensors and get a correlation check from the real car and the CFD and wind tunnel model,” said the Dane.
“I don’t think we’re going to do anything unusual. I think we’re just going to do the normal thing, as we always do in FP1.”
