“He had the spoon ready today,” Guenther Steiner thinks Kevin Magnussen and Haas’ maiden pole was ‘well-deserved’
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Kevin Magnussen and Guenther Steiner celebrating the former's pole position at the São Paulo Grand Prix (IMAGO / Motorsport Images)
Kevin Magnussen will start the sprint race of the São Paulo Grand Prix in pole position, the first time ever this has been the case for him (and Haas) in Formula 1. While the circumstances certainly helped him along, it is undeniable that he’d been on the pace all throughout qualifying, and set a very tidy lap (1:11.674, 0.203 seconds faster than Max Verstappen in P2) in Q3 where others faltered.
George Russell took a trip into the gravel, and when attempting to turn his car around, he beached his car, which brought out a red flag with 8 minutes and 10 seconds. Just around that, rain began to fall once again, which skyrocketed the chances of Magnussen keeping his pole position, which he duly did. Guenther Steiner does not think that it was luck and lauded his team and driver.
As per Motorsport Week, Steiner said to Sky Sports: “It was not luck, it was well deserved from the driver, from the team, being on the right tyres at the right time, Kevin putting a lap down when it was needed.” Indeed, there were 8 other drivers out on softs with better packages (normally) than him, but he still set the fastest time. He was also the first driver to leave the pit (and set a lap) – helped by Haas’s garage position at the end of the pitlane.
The Haas team principal further commented on that: “He was first out there, we can say ‘yeah, he has the advantage’, but the disadvantage, he had nobody to gauge with, he was on his own. So he put the lap down and it stuck, so it was basically when it rains soup, you need to have a spoon ready and he had the spoon ready today.” adding that the Dane, and the team, deserved this result.
Guenther Steiner: Unrealistic to think Kevin Magnussen can win the sprint race
While Kevin Magnussen has taken pole position, staying there in the sprint race is going to be quite a bit more complicated. It’s not impossible, but hoping to keep the lead, or even stay on the podium (or perhaps even top 5) is quite a big ask, considering the differences in car performance. Guenther Steiner agrees with this assessment.
The Italian said Haas are happy as long as they ‘stay in the points’: “I think now you’re getting a little too optimistic! 24-laps to keep everybody behind will be difficult, but I’m happy with points. We don’t need to win the race. If we win it, I’m more than happy but it would be very unrealistic to think that but as long as we stay in the points, we are happy.”
It’s going to be quite an interesting race for Haas. While Magnussen starts on pole, his teammate Mick Schumacher will start dead last in P20. A points finish will be a good result for the Dane, while Schumacher will also be looking to make his way up the grid, and it’ll be interesting to see where each of them ends up.
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)