Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen believes a forced floor change was behind his relative lack of pace at Formula 1’s 70th Anniversary Grand Prix
Magnussen crashed out of the British Grand Prix on the opening lap after making contract with Alexander Albon and the damage sustained to the VF-20 meant Haas had to revert to older parts.
Magnussen struggled throughout the weekend at Silverstone, lagging behind Romain Grosjean in qualifying, and faded to the rear of the pack after a strong first lap.
Haas retired Magnussen on safety grounds, amid vibrations from the tyres, during the closing stages of the race.
“The car just hasn’t performed this weekend as we know it can,” said the Dane.
“We know it can perform, especially on a Sunday in race conditions. It just hasn’t happened this weekend. We had the crash last Sunday, and I think the parts that we put on as replacements, the floor and so on – they’re old parts, I can’t really say what else it could be.
“In my mind that has to be it as the car can be a lot better than this. It simply hasn’t worked this weekend and that’s unfortunate. I had a great start again, so I’ll take that away as a positive and try and continue to keep doing that.”
Haas has scored only one point so far this season, achieved courtesy of Magnussen in Hungary, but reckon the car’s race pace is masked by its struggled in qualifying.
“We know in normal circumstances the car is more competitive in the race than it is in qualifying,” he added.
“We need to keep getting those good starts and fight in those positions. Our job is to keep fighting.”
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