F1 | Haas, Magnussen and Grosjean penalized, but enthusiastic about the performance of the VF-20

The Haas team hoped to get away with it, but that wasn't the case: the words of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean are full of satisfaction and happiness, but the two were punished, after the end of the race, with a penalty of 10s each. The reason? The American team violated point 27.1 of the regulations, that is, they suggested adjustments to the drivers during the formation lap. And in fact, the two Haas drivers, sixteenth and eighteenth respectively on the starting grid, returned to the pits after the formation lap to change their set of tyres. Both mounted the medium dry compound; Grosjean had started on intermediate tyres, like the rest of the grid, while Magnussen's car was "wearing" full wet tyres. The final ten second penalty took away a position from both of them: Grosjean therefore finished sixteenth, giving way to Kimi Raikkonen, while Magnussen went from ninth to tenth, still remaining in the points.

Despite the final penalty, Haas demonstrated that it has a good race pace, at least on the Hungarian circuit, as demonstrated by the first point of the season scored by the Danish driver and his and his teammate's enthusiasm in the post-race declarations.

"It was a good move by the team – said Grosjean before learning of his penalty – I had said on the radio that the track was too dry for the intermediates, so we seized the opportunity. The first laps were a bit 'slippery', but then everything worked out. The pace was good. Then, however, I started to experience a bit of graining on the left front, we didn't preserve it enough. In any case, everything was fine, until, and I need to review the videos, Albon braked late into Turn 1, touching my wing and damaging it. Since then, the car has not been the same. We tried to solve it, but without success, ending up outside the points".

Even more enthusiasm for Magnussen, who sailed in third position for a while and took home his first point of the season.

"I'm very happy. The team was crazy with the strategy before the start of the race, during the formation lap, to fit the slicks. It was an act of faith on their part, fitting dry tires in less than ideal conditions. It was risky, but we succeeded. The pace was there and, despite starting from the pit lane, after a few laps I was in third position” Kevin said.

"I obviously knew it wasn't going to end like this, but it was great to be there for part of the race. I tried to hold on to third position for as long as possible, but the team and I knew what our final position would be. In the end, ninth position, we did everything to keep it and open a gap on Ferrari and then also on McLaren. This demonstrates the qualities of our car in the race. The team did a fantastic job, even if we still have some problems in qualifying".