Kevin Magnussen was not too pleased with the outcome of Qualifying for the United States Grand Prix on Saturday after the Haas F1 Team racer could only manage twelfth on the grid.
With the midfield pack being extremely tight – Magnussen’s best lap in Q2 was less than two-tenths of a second away from making it through to the top ten shootout – the instability the Dane suffered in the lower-speed corners cost him dearly and meant he was unable to follow team-mate Romain Grosjean into Q3.
However, Magnussen does feel that from twelfth on the grid, he can make gains on Sunday and find a position inside the top ten and points in Haas’ home Grand Prix.
“I was struggling a lot in sector three, the low-speed corners,” said Magnussen, who is part of the five-driver battle for seventh place in the Drivers’ Championship in 2018 alongside Sergio Pérez, Nico Hülkenberg, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, with the quintet separated by just four points with four races remaining. “I just had a bit too much instability at the rear, which I struggle a little bit with.
“My lap was okay. P12 is not satisfying, but we can do some stuff tomorrow with strategy and, hopefully, we’ll get into the points. The midfield is so close. It’s only something like two tenths of a second from where I am to the top of that fight. I just missed that tenth or two to get me in front there.
“We missed that today, but who knows tomorrow. With strategy a bit more open for people outside of the top-10, maybe there’ll be an advantage there. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”
