Kevin Magnussen hopes to translate Haas’ best ever qualifying result into points during Saturday’s Sprint at Imola.
After a poor weekend in Australia, the American team has been back on form in the wet in Emilia Romagna with the Dane clinching fourth on the grid.
“It’s fantastic, so unexpected all these things still, even after good races in Bahrain and Jeddah,” he told Sky Sports post-session.
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“It’s so cool to be in this position and fighting that close to the top. We were stronger in the wet than we will be in the dry, but still it’s crazy.
“The car is great, it’s a fantastic car and it’s fast enough to do this. It’s no miracles from my side, it’s just a great car and I did what I could today, did some good laps and we got P4. It’s just a crazy result and I’m really proud of the team.”
Magnussen’s Q3 almost ended in disaster though as he caused one of three red flags by sliding off at Acque Minerali.
“I touched the white line and then it was gone, and I thought I was going to hit the wall,” he said after joking he had “run out of talent”.
And it’s another Red Flag ?
Magnussen has gone off #ImolaGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/cZ5r2kuygG
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 22, 2022
“I then went into the gravel and slowed down quite a lot so I realised, I saw the anti-stall, pulled the clutch while I was still backwards, and then went onto the throttle just enough to get out into that escape road.
“Yeah, lucky.”
Looking ahead to the Sprint, this season sees points for the top eight drivers after the 100km dash and Magnussen hopes to stay in that window.
“I want to start in a good position for Sunday,” he said. “We’re P4.
“In the dry, I don’t think we’re fast enough to be P4, but it’s a tricky track to overtake, so if I can get around the first lap in P4, that’s gonna be super.
“If I lose a position or two after that, you know we’re still getting points and a great position for Sunday. Of course, I always want to finish higher than fourth, but we also got to be realistic and clever.”