Kevin Magnussen Q&A: Spanish Grand Prix

Haas F1 Team returns to Europe for Round 6 of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship – the Spanish Grand Prix. This will be the second time the VF-22 has run around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya after pre-season testing in February, but it will be your first experience of it. Does that put you at a disadvantage to those who have already driven over a hundred laps in this year’s car?

“Barcelona is probably the Formula 1 track I know the best out of all of them. I don’t think it’s going to be such a big disadvantage not having driven there in testing. The car is performing well, it’s been very good at four of the five tracks we’ve been at, so I think it’s going to do well there too.”

 

With a mixture of high and low-speed corners, there’s a reason why this circuit is used for testing. After five races, would you say you fully understand the car now and are able to manage its strengths and weaknesses? 

“Our car is pretty good all-round – it’s been good in wet conditions, dry conditions and intermediate. It’s like always, you need to get the car into the window, and I think we’ve done a decent job of that this year.”

Your best finish at the Spanish Grand Prix came in 2018 with Haas when you secured sixth place. Do you think you can continue the good form that you’ve been managing so far this season? 

“I think we can be pretty happy with the start to the year that we’ve had. There’s always things you could’ve done better and certainly this year, that’s the case too but it’s not been a bad start and we’re looking forward to the rest of the year.”

 

Barcelona is usually the time of the year when teams start to bring substantial upgrades to packages, do you expect the grid to stay in the same order as the first five races or do you think this is where we’ll see changes in the pecking order, and where does Haas F1 Team fit into that? 

“I think there’s probably a good chance that the competitive order is going to change around a little bit this year. We’ve seen Mercedes out of shape, sometimes Alfa Romeo has been up there almost with podium pace and other times we’ve been up there, so the competition is very tight, and I think it’s going to make for an interesting season. It’s not fun if you know that you can’t be competitive and this time there is no way to say that you can’t be competitive, everyone has a chance. I think it’s way more interesting and a lot more fun – I’m certainly enjoying my time.”