F1 | Haas, Kevin Magnussen: “Interesting start, we have good grip”

The season is off to a decidedly uphill start for Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen: the team led by Guenther Steiner has already suffered problems during the first free practice session in Austria. Grosjean stopped twentieth in the morning, due to a hydraulic problem on his VF-20, but only moved up to sixteenth position in the afternoon.

"It wasn't an ideal start, but it can happen. The guys did a great job to allow me to do an installation lap at the end of this morning's session, at least to check that the brakes were back on track. We then had to make up for the time lost during FP2 – explained Romain who, as soon as he got onto the track, began to complain about the brakes of his car.

"I have to admit, though, coming out of the garage and pressing on the accelerator I didn't think 'wow, how fast is he'? – revealed the Frenchman – I had to wait a while to get used to the car again and focus on the braking points or the sensation of speed, and F1 cars are unique for this. In the end, everything went as it should and we managed to finish our program. Obviously, we need to make up some lap time, the fight for the top 10 seems very close".

The only glimmer of hope is the morning performance of Kevin Magnussen, who manages to bring his Haas into the top 10, precisely in ninth position, 1,1s behind Hamilton, but the afternoon is also negative for the Dane, who finishes ahead of his teammate team in fifteenth position.

"Getting back in the car was great, we had a good day. We are still learning a lot from the car, small details, but important. We have really good grip with this car, but the key is reliability” explained Magnussen, who however remains confident.

"The second session wasn't all roses, what with the traffic and everything else, but after all it was positive, I'm happy with the whole day. It's an interesting start and I can't wait to get back in the car tomorrow".