Pre Race
Summer is over, back to… RACE 💥 🇳🇱
After a three-week summer break, Kevin Magnussen and the rest of the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team are ready to enter the second half of the 2023 Formula 1 World Championship. Round 14, the Dutch Grand Prix, takes place at Zandvoort – a famous oldschool circuit that was brought up to Formula 1 standards a few years ago and returned to the schedule for the 2021 season.
“I’ve enjoyed the summer break, but I’m also looking forward to get back on track with the team Zandvoort is going to be fun. I like the track, it’s old school and unique and it’s one of those that you enjoy driving a Formula 1 car on,” says Kevin Magnussen.
Earlier this week, the Admin By Request supported racing driver made us all happy by announcing that he will stay with Haas for the 2024 season alongside teammate Nico Hulkenberg. While it’s clear that the American racing team didn’t finish the first half of the season as they wanted, K-Mag remains positive about the team’s situation.
“We’re all super eager to make a comeback during the season. I think we can do that; we’ve seen some teams making good steps and that’s actually been motivating as much as it’s been annoying. It shows that if they can do it, we can do it too and I think that’s the mentality we’re going into the second half of the season with. I feel we as a team are in a good spot, but with the car, we’re a little behind so I’m looking forward to the challenge and looking forward to working hard to get to where we want to be,” says Kevin Magnussen.
FUN FACTS: Zandvoort is the name of one of the major beach resorts of the Netherlands, and the famous circuit is located very close to the sandy coast. The first Formula 1 race was held at Zandvoort in 1952, and after having been taken of the calendar in 1985, the now 4.2km long track with NASCAR inspired banked corners was modernized and returned to the Formula 1 schedule in 2021. ‘Really quick’, ‘pretty insane’ and ‘crazy’ are typical words used by the current crop of F1 drivers when describing Zandvoort…
Day #2
Pre-race update from the Dutch Formula 1 Grand Prix at Zandvoort, where Kevin Magnussen will start today’s race from a P18 after a difficult Saturday where the Dane damaged his car in FP3, which seemed to affect his performance in the qualifying session.
⏩ UPDATE: Kevin will start from pitlane after changes to the car under Parc Fermé conditions.
Day #3
“We did a good job at the beginning of the race”
Kevin Magnussen finished the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort on a 14th after a chaotic race where changes in the weather conditions challenged everyone. After the rain began falling just halfway around the opening lap, the Danish Formula 1 driver pitted for intermediate tires, got his grip and started moving his way up to an interesting seventh place.
Going back to medium tires once the track dried, K-Mag started falling back. However, another period with heavy rain red-flagged the race and forced the drivers into the pitlane for a 45-minute-long break. After the restart, K-Mag was 16th, but gained a couple of positions through the final five laps.
“I think we did a good job at the beginning of the race with the conditions and managing that well. We fell from P7 to outside of the points and it’s a shame. It feels extra frustrating when you manage to hustle your way into the top 10 and then you don’t have the pace to be there. We’ll keep working and today we showed we’re trying our best and going for it when there’s an opportunity, but we need more pace,” said Kevin Magnussen.
