Kevin Magnussen was still overcome by his “surreal” return to Formula 1 as both Haas cars ended in the top 10 of Bahrain Grand Prix practice.
The American outfit had a rollercoaster pre-season on and off the track, from splitting with former title partner Uralkali and driver Nikita Mazepin to freight delays and then leading the timesheets on the penultimate day of testing.
Magnussen’s comeback as Mazepin’s replacement the day before the second test was another part of the story. And after ending practice P10, the Dane was just ecstatic.
“The car has been feeling good all day again, like last week,” he said.
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“In FP1 we were focusing a little more on race set-up and feeling, we weren’t trying to set a lap time.
“In FP2, we did a qualifying sim – not fully going for it – and that looked better on timings, but I think it was the long run that I was really encouraged by.
“It was so consistent, lap times were really strong, and I’m still super excited.
“I can’t believe what is even going on,” he smiled. “It is so cool man, surreal. So I feel very lucky.”
Teammate Mick Schumacher finished P8, ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes, and was equally pleased with the progress Haas has made.
“It was overall very positive – we made good steps at the right moment,” said the German.
“Now it’s just about trying to fine-tune what we have and then I think the package is there to be used.
“We’ve done quite a few long runs which seem to be positive and hopefully that will be the case on Sunday as well. It’s only FP2 but it does feel good to be in the top 10.”
Further encouragement came from the reliability side, as the problems that limited mileage in pre-season disappeared.
“It was a good day today,” said team boss Guenther Steiner. “Surprisingly there were no issues with the car, no gremlins, nothing.
“That means the team did a fantastic job over the last week from testing to now – it was relentless work.
“For FP1 and FP2 we were out there, and we are where we actually want to be. We just need to take it now to qualifying tomorrow with the same pace and reliability, as well as for the race.”