Kevin Magnussen admitted he messed up in the final part of Qualifying as he finished ninth fastest ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix.
With the rain arriving in time for Q3, it caused teams problems with when was the best time to go out as the track dried at the end of the session and while the two Racing Point Force India F1 Team cars gained massively, Magnussen was left to rue a missed opportunity.
“It was a pretty hectic Q3,” said Magnussen. “It had a lot of potential to be good, and in those kinds of conditions, you can make a big difference.
“You can also mess it up, which I did. The track was dry on the last lap. You go out on the intermediates, and it’s wet with spray.
“It doesn’t look like it’s going to dry up, so you push with everything you can. Then on the second lap, the tyres are already gone.
“By the third lap, the track was so dry that you get massively faster again, but today I missed out, whereas the likes of the Force Indias got their big chance.”
Magnussen acknowledged that the rain made the session exciting and feels it was still a strong day for Haas F1 Team and believes they can have a strong race on Sunday.
“It’s exciting, but obviously it’s disappointing when it’s not gone your way,” said the Dane. “At the end of the day, two cars in Q3 is good, and we made some good steps in the dry in Q1 and Q2.
“We were running in the top-10 consistently. I think the car’s race pace is good, so tomorrow should be interesting.”
