The Danish driver replaced the axed Nikita Mazepin at the Haas F1 team amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the deal being announced on the eve of the second pre-season test.
Haas then missed the opening morning of the test in Bahrain due to freight transport delays, only to regain the lost time through additional running time permitted later in the Bahrain test, resulting in Magnussen having a total of just one day of testing time to get up to speed in the new Haas F1 car.
Despite playing catch-up, Magnussen starred in qualifying for the Bahrain GP with seventh place in Q3 even though he suffered a hydraulics issue during Q2, which also forced him to stop on track at the end of the pole shootout session.
Reflecting on the last two weeks, Magnussen has been thrilled by the turnaround and while reliability concerns still remain he is confident of fighting for points in the opening round of the year.
“It’s been a massive rollercoaster from getting the call from Gunther…
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