Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu heaped praise on Kevin Magnussen after he scored his best result of the season so far in Mexico.
The Haas driver finished seventh, four seconds behind Max Verstappen, who had to serve a pair of 20-second time penalties during his pit stop.
The result came one week after Magnussen lost a potential points finish at the United States Grand Prix due to an extra pit stop the team blamed on a “communication error.”
Komatsu said he was “so happy for Kevin,” who will leave the team at the end of the season and doesn’t have a drive for next year yet.
“He drove very well in Austin, but we couldn’t quite deliver on Sunday, but this weekend he had an amazing qualifying,” said Komatsu. “Today everyone delivered.
“His pace in the second stint was unbelievable, he was catching Verstappen in his Red Bull and was finishing just four seconds behind. That was probably the best I’ve seen Kevin drive, I’m so happy for him.”
Magnussen was also quick enough to prevent Oscar Piastri from catching him before the end of the race.
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Haas introduced an upgrade for its VF-24 at the previous round and Magnussen said the car’s performance was consistently strong in Mexico.
“These weekends when everything just clicks, it’s a really nice feeling,” he told the official F1 channel. “This race I was able to just push really hard and manage the tyres at the same time. I just got them into that sweet window where it just works.”
“We had a big advantage to the other midfield cars,” he added. “I just think the car had that balance where you were just able to get that next level of grip in the tyres and make it last. We put the car on-track on Friday and we basically haven’t changed it at all.”
With Nico Hulkenberg finishing ninth, Haas have tightened their grip on sixth place in the championship, extending their margin over RB, who failed to score. Magnussen is optimistic they’ll be able to keep their rivals behind until the end of the year. “It’s not always easy to score these points so I think 10 points with four races to go, it’s not comfortable yet, but it’s a really important one,” he said.
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2024 Mexican Grand Prix
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