Magnussen rues wrong tyre call for Imola F1 sprint race

Magnussen was one of just three drivers to start the 21-lap sprint race on mediums, along with Haas teammate Mick Schumacher and Nicholas Latifi of Williams.

While Magnussen was able to hold on to fourth place at the start, staying ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez, he soon found the mediums were not giving him enough pace to compete with the soft-shod runners behind.

Magnussen was passed by Perez on lap eight before being overtaken by Ricciardo and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz on consecutive laps. He then lost seventh to Valtteri Bottas with two laps remaining, leaving him eighth at the chequered flag.

Asked by Motorsport.com if he felt powerless to keep the chasing cars behind him, Magnussen said: “Yeah, I was super surprised to see everyone on the soft.

“We tried the soft in free practice and thought it would degrade too much, so when everyone else was on soft at the start, I was a little nervous.

“They obviously overtook me at the beginning of the race in the first part of the race, because they were faster, and then towards the end, it kind of evened out.

“But overall, the soft tyre was the right tyre for that race and we learned that.”

By holding on to eighth place, Magnussen picked up another point for Haas under the revised format for sprint races in 2022, and secured a fourth-row start for Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

“We scored a point and we're starting P8 for tomorrow’s race,” Magnussen said.

“Usually, I think we’d be pretty happy with that.

“Nonetheless, we’ve had a good weekend, and looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully score some more points.”

Kevin Magnussen, Haas F1 Team, on the grid

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Magnussen explained that while he had not completed a sprint race distance on the soft tyre, the degradation both he and Haas had seen in practice made them wary to use it.

“We did like 13 laps and it took a step around there of degradation, and I judged that it would continue,” he said.

“But looking at everyone else at lap 13, it was kind of the same. It took a little step but then stayed there and they had the same pace as me.

“So the soft tyre was the right tyre, I got that wrong, but we live to fight another day.”