Magnussen frustrated with forced pit stop in Hungary after point-less race for Haas
It was a second point-less race in a row for Haas as Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen came home in 14th and 16th respectively at the Hungarian Grand Prix – with Magnussen particularly frustrated after a forced pit stop compromised his race early on.
Magnussen started the race in 13th and made a good start, making it up to 10th on the first lap. However, he made contact with Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren at Turn 1, causing damage to his front wing, which brought out the black and orange flags, meaning he had to pit to repair the damage on Lap 5.
The Dane came out at the back of the field on the hard tyre but struggled to make an impact on the race. He then swapped to the medium tyre before pitting under the late Virtual Safety Car for the soft tyre to come home in 16th.
READ MORE: ‘More lows than highs’ says Ricciardo after double contact drops him out of the points in Budapest
“Yeah, it was [hard to make the hard tyres work],” said Magnussen. “Couldn’t really switch it on so it was good to get that off and do some laps on the medium. Our race was compromised massively by having to pit that early for the black and orange flag, which I questioned whether it’s necessary or not.
“I had slight contact with one of the McLarens, just as we got to full power at the exit of Turn 1, something happened in front of him, so he stepped on the brake, and I hit him. Couldn’t avoid it, but it wasn’t that bad, so I was surprised to get [the black and orange flag]. I did two laps afterwards and the balance was fine, nothing was flapping.
Magnussen ran the only upgraded VF-22 in Budapest and reflecting on the car’s performance, the Dane said: “It was positive from the perspective that we could put the car on track and immediately measure what we were hoping for. It’s just going to be a lot of work to get the lap time out of it and that’s going to come over the next few races – it’s new potential to be unlocked.”
Team mate Mick Schumacher started the race in 15th and made good progress in the first stint climbing up to eighth. And looking back on the race, the German blamed a difficult second stint on the hard tyre that hindered his race, as he came home in 14th.
READ MORE: 6 Winners and 5 Losers from the Hungarian Grand Prix – Who finished the first half of the season on a high?
“[It was a] Tough [race],” Schumacher admitted. “Tougher than expected it would be. We hoped that the C2 would work, it didn’t. So, I think maybe in terms of strategy we kind of gambled on the wrong tyre. I think we had a good start, that was what we aimed for, fortunately couldn’t make it stick, so yeah P14 at the end.
“I think we have a lot to look back at, analyse and try and understand so that basically for Spa, we know how the new package works, what we need in terms of set up and what we need to be quick. I expect this package to work pretty well in Spa, if it’s the case we will know then for sure.”
P14 Mick Schumacher found Hungary ‘tougher hand expected’
