Haas F1 had a very difficult race in Hungary, after Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher put on hard rubber from the second stint. The team attempted a one-stop bet, but the whitewall rubbers had no rhythm. The Dane finished his race in 17th place after damage to his car at the start of the race.
« Our race was massively compromised by the fact that we had to go through the pits for the black and orange flag » Magnussen said. « I had a slight contact at the start with one of the McLarens, I couldn’t avoid it, and it wasn’t that serious, so I was surprised to receive the flag. »
Magnussen is however happy to have been able to ride with medium tires on the advanced VF-22: « It was positive to immediately measure what we were hoping for. It’s going to take a lot of work to get lap times and that will come over the next few races, that’s new potential to unlock. »
Mick Schumacher, finished 14th, and he confirms having suffered from hard tyres: « It was even more difficult than we expected. We were hoping the C2 compound would work and it didn’t, so in terms of strategy we may have bet on the wrong tyre. »
« We got off to a good start, that’s what we’re aiming for, but unfortunately we didn’t manage to keep this level. I think we have a lot to study, analyze and understand. »
« For Spa we want to know how the new package works, what we need in terms of set-up and what we need to be fast. I expect this package to work quite well at Spa and if it is the case, we will know for sure. »
Steiner takes on the FIA race director
Günther Steiner, the director of Haas, is annoyed that Magnussen had to pit at the start of the race, and accuses the race direction of being overzealous: « It was a tough race today for us. »
« Kevin apparently damaged his front wing which we believe is an FIA error. The front wing was clearly able to hold and carry on so we lost a half turn meaning that our race was over. »
« And then obviously getting the tires to work was difficult when we ended up with all the blue flags. It was the same for Mick, the C2s weren’t working, we couldn’t get them to work, and we ended up where we ended up. »
