Magnussen "can't be disappointed" despite Q1 exit

A rear suspension failure on his first lap of practice on Friday, allied to a wet final practice session on Saturday morning, meant that the Dane's first dry laps were in qualifying.

But after outpacing teammate Jolyon Palmer and just missing out on making it to Q2 by just two hundredths of a second, Magnussen said he was actually happy with the showing.

"I am quite happy with that really given that I haven't had any laps in the dry at all," explained the Renault driver, who will start 17th.

"The last corner was the first time I saw the last corner! Not easy, it was okay.

"We could have been in Q2 if I had known the track a bit better, because it was less than two hundredths. There were a few places where I definitely could have improved a lot.

"This is our level pretty much and we cannot be too disappointed with that. We know it is the beginning of a long project, a big project. All in all, not too disappointed."

Balancing act

Magnussen said that delivering a qualifying lap, having not driven a dry lap beforehand, was especially hard.

"I had two runs and the first run was difficult because that is the first time you see the track," he said. "I have never been on supersoft on this track, and not driven in the dry at all this weekend.

"So I had to learn on the supersoft in the first run and go for it another time.

"Before qualifying you are just watching the onboards so really trying to get a lap together in your head before you go out – and don't do a mistake.

"The braking points are a bit difficult as you don't know where they are. One tiny split second and you are too late, and one tiny split second and you are too early. It is pretty difficult but I am happy."

He added: "But given the conditions and circumstances, yes it was a good performance.

"I am really happy to be on that level after not running, although I've had better performances and better laps. But in terms of how well I did in terms of not running I am happy."