kevin magnessun – Haas F1 Fan Journal

2019 Japanese Grand Prix

In a weekend interrupted by typhoon hagibis, the 2019 Japanese Grand prix found both qualifying and the race on the same day. Qualifying was dry and sunny but plagued with high winds.

During qualifying Kevin Magunssen was struck by a tailwind and found himself into the grass and spinning. The damage to his car seemed mostly cosmetic but he did start the race at the back of the pack since he did not post a qualifying time and the team had to change a gear box.

Romain Grosjean had a very good qualifying session. The flying Frenchman mad his way into the third round of qualifying yet started in the 10th position.

At the race start Magnussen jumped 6 positions to P13 and Grosjean dropped 4 positions just behind his teammate to 14th.

The Ferrari’s of Vettel and Leclerc locked out the first row with the German taking pole and his teammate in 2nd position. Vettel did not get a good start and both Ferrari’s were jumped by the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas. Leclerc tried found himself behind Verstappen’s Redbull by turn two. Leclerc tried to regain that spot at the inside of turn two and, forcing off the Redbull of Verstappen. Leclerc was forced to pit and change his front wing.

By lap 11 of the 53 lap race Magnussen was leading the two Haas cars were running 12th and 13th. But on lap 18 and 19 the two Haas cars pitted. Both cars were fitted with hard tires. We’re not sure which one stopped first. But fast forward to lap 22 and Grosjean was down to 15th and Magnussen was down to 18th.

After more midfield pitting in what appears will be a three stop race, lap 29, Grosjean P12, Magnussen P15.

With 10 laps remaining the Haas cars are running Grosjean 14th and Magnussen 16th.

Mercedes Finished first and third with Bottas taking the win and the Ferrari of Vettel splitting the Silver Arrows and taking second position. But with that finish Mercedes has clinched the 2019 constructors championship and their 6th in a row.

2019 Russian Grand Prix

After 28 laps of racing the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel experienced an MGU failure and retired from the race. This caused a yellow flag condition and allowed the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton to pit and gain the undercut advantage over the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. Vettel’s comment over the team radio was music to every F1 fan’s ears, “bring back the fucking V12’s”.

2019 Russian Grand Prix

Romain Grosjean started 8th, and Kevin Magnussen 11th.
Magnussen got a great start and gained 3 positions by turn 3. Romain Grosjean retired from the race on the first lap as Daniel Ricciardo hit Grosjean in turn 3 and sent the Haas car into the wall, and out of the race.

At the end of the lap 28 incident, the Hass of Kevin Magnussen landed in 6th position when the race resumed at lap 33. At this point of the race the entire field had pitted and would make the remaining race distance without stopping. It was a 20 lap sprint for the checkered flag.

But it was Sebastian Vettel who was the prime mover as he jetted from third, past the number 2 car of Hamilton, into the slipstream of his teammate Charles Leclerc and into the lead by turn 3

Lap 43, Magnussen was passed by the Redbull of Alex Albon. On lap 44, Magnussen was passed by the pink Racing Point of Sergio Perez… as Magnussen droped to P8.

Lap 47, Kevin Magnussen received a 5 second time penalty for leaving the track limits, which at the time of the penalty would have put the Haas car out of the top 10 points position. But as it turned out, KMags was able to make up enough time on track so as to only drop one position. Kevin Magnussen finished 9th, scoring 2 championship points for the Haas F1 Team.

Yea, it was a bit heart wrenching to see Grosjean out of the race on lap 1.

Next up on October 13th is the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka International Racing Course. Suzuka is one of the great tracks on the Formula 1 circuit. Until then, Sayōnara.

2019 French Grand Prix

The Haas F1 Team is in a rut, and the stink is starting to get bad. The team scored no points in Canada, a single point at Monaco by Grosjean.

The French Grand Prix did not fail to meet expectations. Romain Grosjean made an error on his final hot lap of Q1 and finished qualifying in 17th position, out of 20 drivers. Kevin Magnussen passed into the second qualifying round, but finished at the back of that group, 15th. Lewis Hamilton took pole and Valttari Bottas was 2nd; another Mercedes front row lock out. Charles Leclerc started 3rd in his Ferrari and Max Verstappen 4th in his Redbull. Sebastian Vettel was down in 7th position.

By the end of the first lap of the race Romain Grosjean had lost two positions and was down to P18, Magnussen was +1 and up to the 14th spot, dropped to last on lap 17 when he pitted. He would never recover. Grosjean pitted on the 33rd lap and rejoined the field one spot ahead of his teammate . The Haas cars were P17 and P18, only ahead of the two Willaims of George Russel and Robert Kubica.

Romain Grosjean dropped out of the race on lap 48 of the 53 race distance. Magnussen will finish in 14th.

Formula 1 is becoming painful to watch.

2019 Monaco Grand Prix – Qualifying

The Monaco harbor master is usually the one with the most frayed nerves during Grand Prix weekend. Until the fairy tale arrival of Charles LeClerc was shattered into an Italian tragedy, the scarlet blood-red Ferrari failed to qualify for the second session of competition. Was it incompetence? Was it…. No, it was incompetence. Perhaps harsh. Call it a passionate miscalculation. Regardless, LeClerc was OUT in Q1! It was not meant to be…. And fantasy Formula 1 leagues tumble on the disappointment which is motor racing!

The Rich Energy Haas F1 Team, Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, were able to advance to Q2. Q3 is when tragedy struck a Haas car. This time the villain is Pierre Gasley in the Toro Rosso. He was driving slowly on the racing line and backed up Grosjean’s hot lap. Kevin Magnussen qualified 6th with what Martin Brumble called a “fully committed lap”. KMags was brilliant! Behind the scenes there is a bitter argument between two Frenchmen going on, Grosjean and Gasley… at the time of this writing we are aghast with Gasley, as are the stewards.

But as cars rolled onto the track for the third round of qualifying, Haas fans had one eye raised with measured optimism. Bottas immediately went to the top with a 1:10.252. Magnussen held P4 with a .999 gap to Bottas. But Magnussen quickly droped to 5th, behind Gasley, Vettel, Verstappen and Bottas. He dropped to 6th as Hamilton beat Verstappen for P2. But going into the final run for pole, KMags maintained that .999 second gap to the leader. This is by far the best qualifying run for any Haas car, ever. Imagine if Grosjean was able to make the final qualifying session? I suspect that Ricciardo’s Redbull would be easy pickings on this day for Grosjean.

With 2 minutes remaining in qualifying, the cars took to the track for their final run. Ricciardo was the first to strike and displace the Haas of Kevin Magnussen for 6th. Magnussen responds, to gap with the leader by .890, but not enough to take Ricciardo’s P6. With 12 seconds remaining, Lewis Hamilton jumps to the pole with a 1:10.166 , and the gap to Magnussen parts to 1.066. But as Magnussen’s Ferrari powered Rich Energy Haas car crossed the line, he closed the gap to .943 seconds from Hamilton’s 1:11.109. In doing so, Magnussen finished 6th, ahead of Ricciardo’s Renault by .089 sec. Very sweet!

Following the qualifying sessions, Red Bull driver Pierre Gasley was summoned to the race control. His block of Grosjean’s qualifying run was not well-received by the race stewards. Gasley was given a three grid spot penalty and one point against his FIA super license. So Gasley’s penalty moved Kevin Magnussen up to the 5th starting position. That translates to row three, and next to Vettel. Anything can happen between the start of the race, and the end of turn 1. Without any Renault powered cars ahead, the likely hood of a mechanical failure at the front is reduced. Regardless, the podium is within sight of a Haas car… we’re getting somewhere!

2019 Spanish Grand Prix

The struggle for race performance has found the Rich Energy Haas F1 Team with only 8 points in the 2019 Formula 1 constructors championship. Kevin Magnussen has been the teams sole points winner while their star, Romain Grosjean, has languished with three retirements and an 11 point finish in China. The team has been strong in qualifying but find themselves down a position or two after the first few laps. The team has failed to maintain race pace.

The Spanish Grand Prix begins the European leg of the F1 season. And with the new continent comes new upgrades to the cars.

From the beginning of the weekend both cars were strong. Haas brought a slew of new upgrades, and the results on track were impressive. They were high on the leader boards throughout the practice sessions, within the top 10, and they locked out the fourth row of qualifying. Romain Grosjean will start the Spanish Grand Prix in 7th position while his teammate Kevin Magnussen will line up next to him in 8th. The two Haas drivers were separated by just .011 seconds in their final qualifying session. The cars are fast and the drivers continue to prove evenly matched.

By lap 17 of 66, the two Haas Cars maintained 7th and 8th position. Grosjean lead his teammate. The Haas duo were about 10 seconds behind Gasley’s Red Bull, who lagged Vettel’s failing Ferrari by 3 seconds.

After the cycle of pits, and a lap 52 safety car Kevin Magnussen was able to defend his starting position and finish in 7th place. Romain Grosjean was not able to maintain position throughout the pit cycles, but still finished 10th. This is Grosjean’s first point for the 2019 season.

The Haas F1 Team entered the Spanish Grand Prix with just 8 points, and have nearly doubled their total to 15. More importantly, they have leaf frogged both Alfa Romeo and Renault to move from 8th to 6th in the constructors world championship.

Next we are off to Monaco. It is difficult to predict how the Haas cars will perform, so we are keeping our expectations low, but our hopes hi!!!

Bon jour!

2019 Bahrain Grand Prix

The race was a disaster for the Rich Energy Haas F1 Team. The team had a strong weekend throughout practice, and had a very promising qualifying session as both cars reached Q3 and finished with the Haas car of Magnussen qualifying in P6, and Grosjean in P8. Grosjean was levied a 3 place penalty for blocking the Mclaren of Lando Norris, so the Haas cars started 6th and 11th respectively.

Lap 1 was the beginning to the end of romain Grosjean’s day. He was bumped off track in the first turn by the pink Racing Point Force India of Lance Stroll. Grosjean returned to the race in last place. He later retired from the race in lap 18 with damage sustained by the lap 1 impact by Stroll. Two races and two retirements for Grosjean. His season can only get better… we hope.

For Magnussen, he ended the race in P13. No points for the Haas team.

Magnussen lost one position by the end of lap one and was down to P7. Magnussen was loosing pace early and could not maintain pace. By lap 11 he was down to 14th position. He pitted on the 11th lap, returned in 15th position, which is where he would remain for the the rest of the race. With just 3 laps remaining, as if on queue, both Renaults of Hulkenberg and Ricciardo blew up and experienced catastrophic engine failure. It was almost scary how both engines failed at the same time. But those two retirements would inch magnussen up to P13, but still no points for the Haas team.

But as to the race, it was a an epic win for Lewis Hamilton, with his teammate Valtteri Bottas taking second. Charles Leclerc was leading the race with 10 laps remaining when he lost the HTU hybrid recovery unit on his Ferrari. Leclerc was under power, but slower. The two Mercedes Silver Arrows were able to overtake the wounded Ferrari, and max Verstappen was lining up the Ferrari himself when the two aforementioned Renaults failed, bringing out the safety car, and saving Leclerc from the clutches of Verstappen’s Red Bull. The race would finish under caution and Leclerc would take the first F1 podium in his short career.

2018 French Grand Prix

The Haas F1 cars of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean locked out row 5 to start the French Grand Prix in 9th and 10 positions.

It was the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel starting in 5th position which started the trouble in turn 1. Vettel ran into the back of the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, damaging Vettel’s front wing and puncturing Bottas’s rear tire. Further back, in turn 3, the Force India of Esteban Ocon was taken out when Pierre Gasley lost control of his Toro Rosso, eliminating the two Frenchmen on the first lap of their home grand prix. By the end of lap 1, Kevin Magnussen ended up in the 5th position and Grosjean 8th.

Romain Grosjean would end up getting blamed for the incident, and receive a 5 second penalty for causing the incident with Ocon and Gasley. So one Frenchman took out the other two Frenchman in the first lap of the French Grand Prix race. We must question Grosjean’s on track antics some time. How much longer does Haas keep this guy? I digress…

It was lap 20 when the Mercedes Silver Arrow of Valtteri Bottas recovered from last place, to pass Romain Grosjean, dropping Grosjean to 11th position. Magnussen pitted in lap 29, and returned to the track in 13th position. Grosjean pitted on lap 35 from 8th position, and returned to the grid in last place, 17th.

A full course caution on lap 48 caused by a blown tire on the Williams of Lance Stroll caused the race to finish under yellow. Kevin Magnussen was able to hold off the attack of Bottas and finish the race in P6. Grosjean finished 11th.

Lewis Hamilton would lead every lap and win the race. Kimi Raikkonen finished second in his Ferrari, and max Verstappen third in his RedBull.

Next, we are on to the Redbullring for the Austrian Grand Prix!!!

2018 Australian Grand Prix

The Haas F1 Team was fast throughout the entire Australian Grand Prix Weekend. The two Haas cars of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean qualified in the sixth and seventh positions respectively. The fifth place qualifying Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo was penalized three starting grid positions for failure to slow down during a red flag in practice. This penalty for Riccardo moved both Haas cars up a spot and allowed the team to lock up the third row, the best starting positions for the team ever.
Magnussen had a fantastic start to the race and beat the fourth place Red Bull of Max Verstappen into turn 1 and immediately assumed P4. And by the end of the first two turns the Haas cars were in Positions 4 and 6. The Red Bull of Verstappen was sandwiched between the two Haas cars in P5 when during lap 10 the Red Bull spun out and Grosjean moved up into P5. The two Haas cars were running 4th and 5th by lap 11.
The spin by Verstappen put him back to P8 with Hulkenberg in his Renault in P7, Riccardo’s Red Bull P6, Grosjean’s Haas in P5 and his teammate Kevin Magnussen in P4. The 2018 season was off to a fantastic start for the third year American outfit until…
It was lap 23 when disaster first struck. Magnussen was the first to pit for Haas and returned to the running in P11 when he was forced to take his VF-18 onto the side of the track and retire the car. The left rear wheel of Magnussen’s car did not lock into position properly and the wheel not fouled. The Number 20 car of Kevin Magnussen was forced to retire with a loose wheel nut.
Then it was lap 25 when it happened again, Romain Grosjean was forced to retire with a loose left rear tire after his pit stop. Within three minutes time both Haas F1 Team cars were out of the Australian Grand Prix.
This result was a bitter pill to swallow for Haas F1 Fans. The team was vying for a potential podium and within a three-minute period the race was over for both cars. A 4th and 5th place finish would have rewarded the team 12 and 10 points; 22 points total. This is nearly half of the entire 2017 season points total of 49. But at the end of the day they earned zero points.
Expectations for the Haas team were high after the strong lap times in practice. But no one expected them to be the number four team, and leading the likes of McLaren, Renault, Williams or Force India, but they have. The team has improved their car, and they appear to have outpaced their nearest competitors. But the challenge which Haas faces is their capacity as a team. They have designed a car which can compete near the front. But they are still a small team with a single financier. The team lacked the capacity to expand to their new performance level, and the pit stop performances proved to be their weakest link.
Perhaps it is a cliché but, something had to give. Being a small team they lack the capacity to grow too quickly, and pit crew training suffered. The entire wheel must first be squarely mounted on the hub before the single wheel nut is tightened by the gunner. The case with both Haas cars was that the wheel was not squarely mounted on the hub before being tightened. Even with the wheel ajar, the wheel nut locked and there was no threat of either of the two mis-mounted wheels coming off. But both instances represent a unnsafe release of the car and we can expect penalties for the team. One thing we can be sure of, the Haas pit teams will be working on their pit stop training.
This picture of Romain Grosjean by @H_DeFormula was the take away image for the race.

To see Grosjean consulting a team member after the pit failure spoke volumes about Grosjean and the culture within the team. Grosjean knows that he will need that guy, and everyone else on the team, if he, Grosjean is to be successful. It was an endearing image and provided a silver lining of sorts. This is a fast team that made two crucial mistakes on their first pit stops. And Grosjean has already moved on.
For the Haas F1 Fans… we are disappointed. But we are also optimistic. The Haas cars are fast and this team is going to have a very competitive year. Competitors at McLaren and Renault have questioned the designs legality of the Haas car, calling it a “Baby Ferrari”. The situation was reviewed by F1 stewards. Those accusations were thrown out, and proved that the 2018 Haas F1 VF-18 Challenger is just very fast. We are in store for a great season…
Let’s call the Australian Grand Prix the Mulligan for the 2018 season. If they can maintain this performance throughout the year we can expect my double points races and perhaps the first Haas podium. Bring on Bahrain!!!

2017 Brazilian Grand Prix – Post Race

The Brazilian Grand Prix was over for the Haas F1 Team nearly as soon as the race started.

The senior Haas pilot, Romain Grosjean, qualified 12th and started 11th. The over performing, and not understated, Kevin Magnussen, qualified 14th and started 13th. It was a penalty to Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo which moved him back to the P14 for the race start and bumped everyone else up.

World Champion Lewis Hamilton started from pit lane

Kevin Magnussen’s race was over in turn 2 of lap 1 when he made contact with the Ricciardo. Clearly Daniel Ricciardo was trying to take real estate which did not exist. Magnussen responded in classic #SuckMyBalls fashion and both cars went spinning off of the track. Ricciardo would rejoin the race. For Magnussen, it was game over.

Grosjeans race was ruined on turn 6 of lap . As Grosjean fought to hold onto the inside lone against the attacking Force India of Esteban Ocon on the outside, The VF-17 chassis of the Haas machine lost grip as under-steer caused him st slide into Ocon. It was the first race retirement of Ocon’s 28 race Formula 1 racing career. It is sad that Ocon’s first DNF (did not finish) has to come at and of a Haas F1 car.

Grosjean finished in P15.

The Haas F1 Team entered this race just point behind Renault for 7th place in the constructors championship. Nico Hulkenberg drove his Renault to a P10 finish which put Haas 2 points behind Renault going into the last race of the season.

The race itself was interesting. Vettel would win for Ferrari. Valteri Bottas delivered 2nd for Mercedes and Kimi Rankonen put the second Ferrari on the third step.z Lewis Hamilton would early get a podium with a 4th place finish from his pit lane start. Danial would deliver has Red Bull to P6 after having to pit on lap 1.

But we’re not too concerned with the race results aside from Haas. And not very happy at the moment…. errrrrrrrrr!!!!!

2017 Grand Prix of Mexico – Post Race

Optimism has not been the order of the day for the Haas F1 Team lately. Their expectations for the United States Grand Prix were met with their results of 14th for Romain Grosjean and 16th Kevin “The Daring Dane” Magnussen.

The Mexican Grand Prix was won by the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel scraped for the F1 Drivers Championship, but in the end Vettel’s P4 finish wasnot enough to prevent the fall of the 2017 F1 drivers championship to Lewis Hamilton.,

Like the US Grand Pris, expectations for the Grand Prix of Mexico were low for the most populat F1 team in Kanapolis North Carolina. The Haas cars qualified in the same 14th and 16th positions to which they finished the US Grand Prix, except it was Kevin Magnussen in the 14th position for the start of the Mexican Grand Prix as he out qualified Grosjean in 16th.

Kevin Magnussen was overlooked by many for the F1 Drive Of The day. He started 14th, and was up to the 12th position by lap 2. On lap 3 he was up to P10, a points scoring position, and he never looked back. On lap 4 Magnussen was up to P9 and it was lap 6 when he moved up to P8, which is where he finished. He did move up to as high as 6th on lap 20.

Kevin Magnussen earned the “Haas F1 Fans Mail Man Award” when he finished in the race in 8th position, which delivered 4 points for the Haas F1 Team. Romain Grosjean would finish in 15th place. But those 4 points from Magnussen would draw the Haas Team to within 1 point of Renault, in 7th place for the F1 Constructors Championship, and only 6 points from the Toro Rosso team with 53 points in 6th place.

Sixth place may sound like a tall order with only two races remaining, but it could happen if they get some help. Today that help came from Renault, or as they might be called today Re’no-no-no-no-no. Six cars are running Renault engines in the 2017 season, and five of those engines would fail today. The sixth engine was in the Red Bull of the race winner, Max Verstappen. Here is a list of the Renault engine failures

Lap 6 – Daniel Riccardo – Red Bull – Engine Failure
Lap 26 – Nico Hulkenberg – Renault – Engine Failure
Lap 32 – Brendon Hartley – Toro Rosso – Engine Failure
Lap 58 – Marcus Ericsson – Toro Rosso – Engine Failure
Lap 62 – Carlos Sainz – Renault – Engine Failure

The Renault engine failures could allow that 7th Constructors position held by Renault to fall to Haas. And those Toro Rosso cars also have Renault engines. Another bad weekend for the Renault engines and Haas could rise two places. Time will tell…

2017 CONSTRUCTOR STANDINGS

POS	TEAM	PTS
1	MERCEDES	595
2	FERRARI	455
3	RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER	340
4	FORCE INDIA MERCEDES	175
5	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	76
6	TORO ROSSO	53
7	RENAULT	48
8	HAAS FERRARI	47
9	MCLAREN HONDA	24
10	SAUBER FERRARI	5

But the race delivered by Kevin Magnussen was an absolutely brilliant drive. On lap 47 Mercedes predicted that Lewis Hamilton would finish the race in P8. Vettel was forced to drop to the back of the pack on lap 1 when he had to pit for a new nose wing after it punctured the tire of Lewis Hamilton. Vettel and Hamilton would both fight from the back of the pack, Vettel would pass Magnussen, but Hamilton would not.

Magnussen held off both Alonso in his McLaren, and Hamilton in his Mercedes, for over twenty laps. The Haas car was able to maintain a race pace which the McLaren or Mercedes could not match. And Kevin “The Daring Dane” Magnussen drove his Haas VR-17 to perfection.

Haas F1 Fans extend their congratulations to to Lewis Hamilton on winning the 2017 F1 Drivers Championship. And also to Mercedes on wining the Constructors Championship.

But to be honest, we at Haas F1 Fans don’t give a crap about any of that. We’ve got our sights set on P6 in the Constructors Championship.

We will see you on November 12th in Brazil. Game on Re’no-no-no-no-no-no