Kevin Magnussen hails Haas purple patch after record weekend

Magnussen, Haas, Imola, 2022 — Photo: © LAT Images

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

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Magnussen hails Haas purple patch after record weekend

Haas continued strong run of points finishes at Imola

Ian Parkes & Will Gray

Monday 25 April 2022 14:35

Kevin Magnussen has hailed Haas for scoring in 'four out of five' races this season after a defensive performance at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

The tally, including Saturday's sprint at Imola, has been a feel-good story of the season so far after Magnussen was drafted back into the Haas team in place of ousted Nikita Mazepin.

The Dane secured Haas' best qualifying result in F1 with fourth on Friday before slipping back in the sprint on Saturday, eventually finishing the grand prix ninth having kept a charging midfield pack behind.

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“It was fun. I had a good start and we had good pace in the wet again but unfortunately, it dried up and we weren’t as competitive," explained Magnussen.

“I was hoping the rain would continue because we had slightly better pace in the wet but you can’t control that. Out of five races, if you count the sprint race, we got points in four, so that’s a good run from us.”

Magnussen - Pit stop cost one position

Magnussen started eighth on the grid and was fortunate to avoid the first corner incident involving Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas in front of him.

Despite the meleé, Magnussen dropped one position in the race and addressing strategic indecision in changeable conditions, he said: “We probably pitted a lap too late. I was telling the team not to be too quick to react, which maybe contributed to that, then we had a bit of a slow stop.

“It was one of those weekends where I was defending all the time because we got ourselves in a good position in either qualifying or the first lap in the main race, so I don’t think we could have got much more.

“With the perfect pit-stop I could have been probably P8 but anyway that’s what we got and we’ve got to be happy with that.”