In a day of split duties between he and his team-mate, Kevin Magnussen concluded the Rich Energy Haas F1 Team‘s winter testing on Friday with a healthy 94-lap run.
The team showed impressive reliability throughout testing at the Circuit de Barcelona and their pace suggests they remain firmly within the tight mid-field. Magnussen’s personal best lap-time from the test’s final day was a 1:17.565 seconds, 1.3seconds away from Sebastian Vettel‘s test-topping time.
“Overall, I think it’s been a productive two weeks in Spain, today’s been another good example of that,” said Magnussen at the conclusion of winter testing. “From the start the VF-19’s felt good, and I can see how we’ve continued to make progress each day in terms of balance and performance.”
Magnussen completed 403 laps (1165 miles) over the eight days of testing, four laps less that his team-mate Romain Grosjean, leaving Haas seventh on the teams’ mileage chart.
“Of course, you never get enough miles in testing, that’s just the way it goes, but I’m happy with what’s been achieved,” said Magnussen. “There’s a lot more work to do before we hit the track in Melbourne, but from my side, I can’t wait to start the season and go racing again.”
With the start of the season less than two weeks away Haas will look to replicate their performance from last year’s Australian Grand Prix where Magnussen and Grosjean ran within the top five for much of the race…until the wheels quite literally fell off both car following botched pit-stops.
Haas are one of only two teams to retain the same driver line-up from 2018 and with new title sponsor Rich Energy they’ll be looking to improve on their fifth place in the constructors’ championship.
