Kevin Magnussen Q&A: Australian Grand Prix

You famously achieved a second-place finish at your first Formula 1 race in Australia in 2014 and achieved a sixth-place finish with Haas in 2019. What memories does Albert Park bring back? 

“I don’t know if there’s anything about the track that clicks as such, but I’ve obviously had some really good weekends there. Not only the sixth place, but also, we were due to finish fourth and fifth in 2018. It’s always been a good race to us somehow, I think it’s more by coincidence than anything else but I love being there, it’s a great race to go to.

"I really like Australia and Melbourne. There’s something about that race – for so many years it used to be the first race of the year – so there’s always a special feeling there, so let’s hope we can keep it going and have another good weekend.”

 

The street circuit has always been known to be quite slippery at the start of a race weekend, and you need a car with a stable front end to really make the most of a lap, what are your predictions for how the VF-22 will fare on Australian soil?   

“We’ve got a pretty good all-round car this year. We’re still learning about it but I have a feeling we’re stronger in low-speed and medium-speed than high-speed. Not that we’re bad at high-speed but I feel our strengths are towards low and medium, so that should be ok for Albert Park.”

The time difference from Europe to Melbourne is nine hours. As an athlete, how do you acclimatize quickly and what tips do you have for the personnel, media and fans making the journey down under? 

“We always go quite early to Australia because the time difference is so big, at most other places you don’t need to go too early but for this one you do. It’s important to get straight into it and get up in the morning even though you’ve only slept two hours.

"You need to get up when it’s time to get up, do some training, eat your meals at the right times and just get into a rhythm as much as possible. You can plan a little bit ahead on the flight on whether you need to go to sleep or stay awake.”

 

This weekend will mark Haas F1 team’s 125th Grand Prix. You’ve played a big part in that history, having competed in 81 races for the team. Can you share your standout moments and detail what’s special about the team?

“I feel that this team is a very pure racing team. The reason this team exists is because Gene (Haas) is a passionate racer, and it just so happens that he’s also got this big corporation that he’s able to promote via this great sport. It’s a simple structure in this team and it’s a small, little, intimate team. It’s very unique in Formula 1 terms to be this intimate and to know the names of that many people within the team, it’s kind of cool.

"The structure is different to other teams – we outsource a lot of stuff – but it just means it’s very straight communication throughout the whole team and I think that plays to some advantages. When you have a problem, you can easily address it and once you address it, you can easily adjust whereas with bigger teams I think it takes longer to turn things around.”