The new Formula 1 regulations have brought many changes, including that the big teams cannot spend as much money as they want, due to the introduction of the budget limit, and that seems to have benefited the smaller teams, used to handling smaller amounts.
Kevin Magnussen, after the great performances he has made on his return to Formula 1, since he scored points in the first two races, assures that the dream of the podium may not be so far away.
The Dane believes that Haas, which has been revived in part thanks to the arrival of the cost cap, the limits imposed on aerodynamics and the rest of the new technical regulations, can be one of those who finish the season with at least one podium in their to have.
At the moment, Romain Grosjean is the driver who has managed to reach Haas the highest, with the fourth position he achieved in the 2018 Austrian GP, but Magnussen could have been fifth in that same race, so seeing him in the top of classification with the Haas is not something new.
In his quest to repeat his only podium finish in the Grand Circus, as he took second place in his first race in the class, the 2014 Australian GP , Magnussen says the thought never leaves his head.
“It’s a dream. I think about it a lot!” he exclaims on Beyond the Grid , the official F1 podcast. “We are in the fight to be the best team behind the top three. If everything is normal, we are the seventh car on the grid.”
“Some cars struggle to get on the podium. Sometimes Mercedes, at least at this start of the season, seems like they’re not that far ahead of us. You don’t need a big break.”
The pilot is aware that they need a little help to achieve this, but says that it is not something that is beyond their reach.
“I don’t think we can get on the podium just on pure pace, but last year in particular we saw a lot of teams get on the podium without being regulars. I think it’s not completely unrealistic to dream about that. I don’t.”
“I think we can look forward to that, because we’re not fast enough to get there on pace alone, but I’m dreaming about it and betting my money on it.”
However, not everything is rosy in the Dane’s return to the premier class of motorsport. He failed to score points in Australia and, like other drivers, gave his opinion on the four DRS zones, which later became three, and how easy it was to overtake.
“We did a lot of overtaking in the race, it was fun. I don’t know if it would have been better to also have the fourth DRS zone,” said the Dane.
He also referred to the ease of following the car in front, which, according to him, only happens at certain distances: “If you are one car away from the driver in front, following him is much better than with the previous cars. If the distance it’s much lower, so [following it] is much worse. In practice, we lose downforce at the front.”
“I didn’t experience the problem in the first two races. [At Albert Park] you were hitting the car [in front] a lot at Turn 9 and when I braked I locked up both front tires at high speed. And this is not a normal thing.” Magnussen concluded.
