Kevin Magnussen news: Haas driver happy with points finish in Jeddah despite neck issues

Kevin Magnussen earned his second consecutive points finish for Haas in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, praising the team’s VF-22 despite admitting that his neck was struggling to cope with the car’s downforce. Magnussen’s Jeddah weekend got off to a shaky start, as he finished both Friday practise sessions in P20 due to a series of reliability issues. Magnussen took the lead for Haas after teammate Mick Schumacher crashed badly in qualifying, putting his car in a strong P10 position on the grid.

Magnussen’s race strategy appeared to take a hit when a Safety Car was called on Lap 16, allowing the majority of the field to pit. Magnussen was one of only three drivers to start the Grand Prix on the hard tyres on Sunday evening. Magnussen, on the other hand, took advantage of a Virtual Safety Car later in the race, which allowed him to change tyres before racing to P9, his second consecutive points finish in Formula One.

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‘Opposite strategy’

“I mean, the worst thing that could happen to us, happened!” Magnussen said after the race, “because we started on the opposite strategy on the hard tyre and almost everyone else was on medium, and the worst thing that could happen was the Safety Car on Lap 16 or 17 – and it came at 16! So to still get two points is very good.”

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“The car was phenomenal again, it’s such a joy to drive,” he added. “We did get a little bit of the luck back at the end when we got the VSC, but had that been a Safety Car instead of VSC – I don’t know how fast they were at the front, but then everyone would have been condensed and we had new tyres and we would have scored big points again. Anyway, happy. The team has done a fantastic job to bounce back from a difficult situation on Friday, so happy.”