Pre Race
Another weekend, another race. Monza was a tough one for Kevin Magnussen and the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team, but the show goes on – and the Danish Formula 1 driver is looking forward to this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, a race where the Admin By Request powered racing driver twice recorded the fastest race lap in 2018 and 2019.
“Singapore is one of my favorite places to race. It’s not the fastest track on the calendar, but it’s the most physical with the heat and humidity. That’s an extra strain on the drivers, but also because of the track layout and the low-speed nature of the track, the race continues for a long time, it’s often close to the two-hour limit for a Formula 1 race. You lose a lot of liquid, you sweat a lot and it’s very demanding of the driver. In all the training I do, the main event is the main motivation to train in Singapore, that’s how I feel anyway. Generally, it’s the most demanding race,” says Kevin Magnussen.
FUN FACTS: Singapore is one of the latest circuits to join the Formula 1 calendar, hosting its first race in 2008. It became Formula 1’s first night race – tens of thousands of lights illuminates the city course – and the team members and the drivers consequently have to manage an unusual timetable. With the race start at 20.00 local time, meaning breakfast in mid-afternoon, dinner in the early hours, and blackout curtains in hotel rooms… This year, the track has had some revisions made to it – most notably the section between Turns 16 and 19 of the 2022 layout will now become one long 397.9m straight, reducing the total number of corners from 23 to 19.
Day #2
Let’s go racing, Kevin! 👊 😃
Happy smiles after yesterday’s strong qualifying by Kevin Magnussen, placing his VF-23 on a P6 on today’s start grid in Singapore. As teammate Nico Hulkenberg managed to qualify ninth, bot MoneyGram Haas F1 Team cars got inside the top-10. Well done, team!
“First of all, for whatever reason, the car is stronger on this track. We’ve done a good job and capitalized on the good form of the car, got both cars into Q3 and we start from a good position tomorrow. We know it’s hard to overtake here, I would love to still have the little twisty corners in sector three now that I’m here because we know our race pace isn’t quite there to stay where we are, but maybe on this track there’s a chance,” said K-Mag after the session.
Day #3
“I thought it was completely game over”
Great Sunday evening at Marina Bay Street Circuit for Kevin Magnussen as the Danish Formula 1 driver finished tenth in the Singapore Grand Prix and scored another championship point! As expected, the VF-23’s race pace wasn’t as good as the qualifying pace, and after having started P6, K-Mag was running P11 in the last minutes of the race. But then the race changed for the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team driver as one of the front runners suddenly hit the wall…
“I thought it was completely game over. I had a brake problem, and I went wide at Turn 2, went off the track and came back. When the Safety Car came, I pitted and had really good pace on the soft tire and came up, but there wasn’t time enough to catch the next car – but then I got lucky when George Russell hit the wall on the last lap, retired from the race, and gave me the point,” said Kevin Magnussen after the race.
“It’s very satisfying for me personally, it’s the third grand prix this year for me in P10 – I’m earning those points each time. I’ve really had a season where I’ve had to battle and work hard on things. We pulled this one out of the hat, but we don’t expect the same opportunity on the upcoming tracks until we get the upgrade,” said Kevin.
Congrats, Kevin! That’s what we like to see! Let’s hope for more success when the Japanese Grand Prix takes place at Fuji this coming weekend.
