Kevin Magnussen’s drive to seventh place in the Mexico City Grand Prix was the best performance he has produced for Haas, according to team principal Ayao Komatsu.
Haas entered Sunday’s race off the back of scoring in five straight events, including the Sprint in Austin, and lined up with Magnussen seventh on the grid and Nico Hulkenberg 10th. Magnussen did not lose a position in the race and kept a fast-charging Oscar Piastri at bay in the closing laps, ending up just four seconds behind sixth-placed Max Verstappen.
“Singapore, I expected him to be strong and we didn’t quite get there, but then in Austin he was so strong,” Komatsu told SiriusXM. “He was strong in the Sprint, he was strong in the race, but we didn’t operate correctly as a race team in the race so he should have scored points in the main race as well.
“Here (in Mexico), from FP1, he was strong. And it’s very difficult to put a lap together here in qualifying, but when it counted, when the pressure was on in Q3, his lap was amazing.
“Then to deliver this race performance, I think this is the best race performance I’ve seen from Kev. Especially in that second stint, once Piastri was behind us, his pace was incredible. He was quicker than Max!
“We are looking at [the gap to Verstappen]. Of course we are completely focused on beating Piastri, you don’t get too greedy, but it just doesn’t take away from the fact that it was just amazing. In Sector 1 I remember watching sometimes Kevin was taking three tenths out of Max, but we were constantly telling him the gap to Piastri because we knew Piastri had something in reserve, which he did.
“A couple of laps from the end he closed at a second a lap, but it was just an incredible drive, such consistency. I think every single lap was like qualifying. It was amazing.”
Magnussen himself said he was proud to be able to capitalize on Haas’s improving form Haas is showing, and with to be able to respond to missing out on points in the main race at COTA.
“Only just!” Magnussen said of beating Piastri. “It was very tight and I knew when he was sort of [going to arrive] – with 20 laps to go I could do the math and say ‘OK, it’s going to be a tough one’. But the tires just lasted really well, so his tires went off more than mine. He was still quicker than me at the end, but he just stopped catching up that fast, so we just about managed to keep him at bay.
“I think it’s nice to get the maximum out of this weekend while we had the strength and real competitiveness – it’s good to capitalize on that. We didn’t feel like we did that last week, we scored points in the Sprint but completely made a blunder in the race, so really good to come back from that.
“I’m very proud. It’s been some turnaround for this team, I think there’s a bright future ahead for Haas.”
