Formula 1 | Magnussen: We had the strongest car in the peloton

Kevin Magnussen signed one of the big performances of the Bahrain Grand Prix by finishing fifth. The Haas F1 driver was called up 11 days ago to return to Formula 1 duty and, a week and a half later, scores ten points.

He himself admits to being impressed by the performance of the VF-22. For Haas, it is the best result since the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, where Romain Grosjean and Magnussen finished fourth and fifth.

« It was very fun, I enjoyed it a lot » Magnussen said. « It’s so good to be back in this position, I just have to say a huge congratulations to the team. We had the strongest car in the middle of the field. »

« I could see the Mercedes almost the whole race. I know we had a safety car at the end so that helped a bit, but it was just a different story to the past. I just kept to repeat it all weekend, I can’t believe this opportunity I’ve had here. Fifth today, it’s crazy. »

« The midfield is our priority and we know we were lucky today with Red Bull. If we can finish seventh in Jeddah it will be basically the same as today. We just had lucky today with four more points than with seventh place. »

The Dane is surprised that he didn’t even suffer physically for his return to F1: « I was worried that I would be a lot more tired. But sometimes when you’re in a good position you have extra energy and that was definitely the case, I was fine. »

He is also satisfied with the adjustments made to his Haas VF-22 this weekend in Bahrain: “We handled that very well with the engineers, getting the right amount of traction in critical corners.

« I’m getting more and more comfortable, but I think everyone is now with these cars, understanding them better. It’s like you put on a shoe that fits you, and when you start to walk, she is still improving. »