Kevin Magnussen says his prospects of scoring points at Formula 1’s Japanese Grand Prix were wrecked by his “quite embarrassing” crash during qualifying.
Magnussen spun through the final right-hander at Suzuka as he prepared for his hot lap in Q1, and suffered a hefty rear-end impact with the tyre barriers.
Magnussen returned his damage Haas to the pit lane, where repairs were undertaken, but he was forced to start in 19th place, from where he recovered only to 17th.
“I went on the power, I had full throttle, and then suddenly I got wheelspin, and spun around, which was unfortunate and quite embarrassing really,” said Magnussen of his Q1 shunt. “But s*** happens.
“In the race, if we had hooked everything up, if I had started up where I should have and got as good a start as I did get, then I would have been in a much better position.
“Probably with a better pit stop and strategy, we could have scored some points. It’s frustrating.”
Haas has often struggled in race trim this year, with its VF-19 unable to keep its tyres in the window, but Magnussen felt the team’s approach was more culpable for its poor result.
“We messed up some strategy,” he said.
“It wasn’t terrible in terms of tyres and pace. Not like previous races where we have been hopeless because of whatever. It’s not like previous races.”
Team-mate Romain Grosjean finished 15th as Haas remained ninth in the Constructors’ Championship.
