If the Haas team were ever going to secure a pole position in 2022, only the most exceptional circumstances would have allowed for it to happen.
Putting the late season dominance of Red Bull and Max Verstappen aside, Haas’ performance level throughout the year suggests that the team would need a perfect storm of unlikely outcomes to combine in order for them to have any genuine chance to go quickest in a qualifying session.
But in Friday’s qualifying session for the Saturday sprint race at Interlagos, it seemed the racing gods had divinely intervened on their behalf just under four minutes into Q3, when a serendipitous spin by George Russell halted the session. It seemingly occured at the perfect moment as rain continued to fall, soaking the circuit and denying anyone an opportunity to beat Kevin Magnussen’s provisional pole time.
Did that mistake by Russell secure Magnussen’s shock pole position? There is plenty of evidence to suggest the red flag it triggered off did not gift Magnussen and the Haas F1 team their first ever pole position. The most stunning qualifying result of the season may already have been secured before the Mercedes ever left the track.
Magnussen had progressed through to Q3 with nine other cars by improving on his final flying lap of Q2, with 70 seconds of time remaining in the second session. As he completed the lap to go safe in seventh place, the light rain that had been falling at irregular intervals for the last three hours appeared to return once more. There were few major improvements for those drivers in the drop zone as the clock ticked to zero as grip levels began to slowly fade.
In the five-minute interval between the end of Q2 and the start of Q3, the rain continued to fall. It remained gentle enough that slicks would still be the best option for the start of the final phase. Haas took full advantage of their garage being situated at the very end of the pit lane, sending Magnussen out to be the first car to queue at pit exit, 80 seconds before the green light shone.
“So the first lap could be it,” Magnussen’s engineer Mark Slade warned his driver as he sat awaiting the start of the session. “But if you think it’s clearly too wet for the dry tyres, we’ll box and fit inters.”
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