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Kevin Magnussen concedes that Red Bull is likely already out of Haas' sight in 2019 after just the first Grand Prix of the year.
Red Bull secured a podium finish at the season-opening race in Melbourne last weekend, as Max Verstappen crossed the line in third place.
Magnussen claimed the 'best of the rest' spot, but was a long way off the front runners. And the Dane says that moving upwards will be tough, as the energy drink squad appears to be far in front of Haas.
"It’s still going to be very difficult to reach Red Bull as they’re already quite a big chunk ahead of us," Magnussen said.
"And they usually evolve and develop quite well over the season, even compared to the two other top teams of Mercedes and Ferrari."
Last season, the midfield battle was tight with Renault beating Haas to fourth in the constructors' championship. Magnussen is expecting a close fight once more this season.
“I think it’s going to be close again, like last year," Magnussen commented. "It’s obviously difficult to say what the battle’s going to be like for the rest of the year, but at least in Australia it was very close. It looked a lot like last year, maybe even closer."
But Magnussen added that he sees no reason why Haas won't be able to carry its Australia pace from race to race.
“I really don’t see any reason why not," he stated. "I don’t see any reason why the car shouldn’t be working in Bahrain. I’m very proud of what we achieved in Australia.
“The car felt very good all weekend. We didn’t have to make any drastic changes to the setup or anything. We got through the weekend quite well and managed things well each day.
"Of course, we’re still not happy as we didn’t get both cars in the points but, nonetheless, we had the potential to have both cars as Romain was very, very fast in qualifying and clearly also had the speed in the race. We would have been P6 and P7.
"That potential is very satisfying, but we need to complete the job and get both cars in the points. We need to have fewer mistakes if we want to be fighting as best-of-the-rest for the remainder of the year."
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
25 members have this team as their favourite
Replies (10)
Login to replyajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Am I the only one who thinks it's strange that Haas can produce the 4th fastest car in F1 two years in a row, but not manage to get pits stop right?
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Considering the fact that Renault seem to, somehow, have been unable to fix their MGU-K for 5 years straight, I find a pit-stop a small woe that should, in theory, be easily fixable with some more experience.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
Last year they had the excuse of having newbies on the crew. This year it seems like it wasn't user error but an error with the wheel nut. Maybe it wasn't put on right but it didn't sound like that's what they were saying.
cricho
Posts: 80
At some point they will get their crew of people on the sweet spot. HR work for haas.....
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Williams had a similar issue few years ago before Smedley got a hold of it. May be. Haas should entice him?
cricho
Posts: 80
Great car!
Great team!
Very poor pilots....
Wonder what a real F1 pilot could do with that car........?
Guess will have to wait.
Jutlandia
Posts: 191
What do you mean by poor pilots?
Both drivers did a great job, until Grosjean's unlucky pit stop.
Magnussen did a great job.
So unless you have any good arguments, i consider your comment useless.
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Nico? Manufacturer team with better pay.
Perez? has a hope for an improved car with better budget in RPF1.
Ricciardo? same as Nico.
Top 6 drivers? not in this life time.
Ocon? bound by contract ( future seat at #1 team).
Give me one name who would is a better 'pilot' than those of Haas' and willing to join it.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Indeed Magnussen has managed to retain a decent reputation in spite of some preposterous incidents over the last two years. He has a real chance with Haas to impress. Let's see if he manages to avoid more embarrassing incidents. Also, lets see if he can beat Romain in quali.
Vet5
Posts: 225
Am i the only one that thinks Haas have no chance in beating RB? They only decided to hunt RB down because of the Rich Energy sponsor which is owned by a bunch of corrupt individuals, start selling the drink on the shelves for **** sake