Haas’ Kevin Magnussen says that the Monaco Grand Prix was not a true indicator of where the team’s V.F.18 truly stands in the pecking order, following a dire weekend for the team.
Neither Haas ever looked in contention to finish anywhere near the top ten points positions in Monte Carlo, despite being close to the top of the midfield for most of 2018 so far. Having come to Monaco on the back of a very competitive race in Spain for Kevin Magnussen, the team were left disappointed as they never got a handle on how to be fast on the streets of the Principality.
“The car that we had this weekend is not representative of what we should have.” said a downbeat Magnussen after managing to get his car home in P13. The Danish driver had qualified P19, without any issues on Saturday bar a fundamental lack of balance and grip and only finished 13th after several race retirements moved him up the order. “I’m just glad we’re out of here, and I can’t wait to go to Montreal and get back into the fight. Everyone on the team deserves that.”
Having had no significant developments to their car yet, despite many teams rolling out upgrades for Spain, Magnussen is eager for the first new parts to be put on his car: “We’re moving on. We’re all looking forward to Canada and to putting some new parts on the car, getting back into our normal shape, and getting back in the fight for points.”
Team boss Guenther Steiner admitted: “In the end, this is what we had to expect. We got two cars home in 13th and 15th. There was not much more in it. There was no damage, we drove a solid race, and made up positions. Now we go onward and upward.”
