Kevin Magnussen left to rue 'thrown-away points'

Haas

Magnussen left to rue 'thrown-away points'

Dane convinced points were possible in Turkey

Sam Hall

Wednesday 18 November 2020 13:34

Kevin Magnussen believes points were thrown away by Haas following a frustrating Turkish Grand Prix weekend.

The Dane had been sitting in a points-paying position until a disastrous pit stop due to a cross-threaded nut on the right-front wheel which resulted in him stopping as he was about to exit the pits.

Magnussen had to be wheeled back to allow the change to be completed, ultimately costing him any chance of what would have been only his second top-10 finish of the season, instead classified 17th and last.

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“It was going really well," said the Dane, whose only point this year was for 10th in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

"The tyres were really worn down to the carcass, and at that point, when the tyres got to that stage, we were really strong. I think we threw away some points.”

Team principal Guenther Steiner, however, has refuted Magnussen's suggestion on the basis that despite the chaos caused by the conditions, there were only three retirees - a Haas, Alfa Romeo and team-mate Romain Grosjean.

“I looked at the data and the graphs because I wanted to know what is possible and I think the best we would have come would have been about 11th or 12th," said Steiner.

"It would have been difficult because nobody from the top drivers dropped out. The drop-outs were all at the back so I think that would have been difficult.

“For sure, not having that mistake, the chances are bigger, I obviously know that, but I think it would have been on the edge."

Explaining what unfolded with Magnussen's stop, Steiner added: “We came in for a pit stop to cover [George] Russell. I guess we didn’t know how long the intermediates would last.

“We just said we needed to cover Russell because at the time it looked like we could get the points so we caught Russell and then the pit stop went wrong.

"The thread was crossed and the guy went for another gun because he couldn’t get it off with the one, and the jackman thought it was okay.

"[But] The guy didn’t give the go-ahead. Because the guy went away to get the other gun, he dropped the car and obviously Kevin went."

Before you go...

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