Among all the terrible things happening to the teams around, for once the Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean weren’t on the receiving end of it in the 2018 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix.
The American outfit already had a sound qualifying with Grosjean in sixth and Magnussen eighth – the Frenchman starting in fifth due to Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel’s penalty. Grosjean was seventh with Magnussen eighth after the opening lap dramas.
Even though Grosjean lost places but it was still a steady start as Haas remained in front of their immediate rivals Force India and Renault. While Grosjean maintained his position, Magnussen had to work hard after a VSC period disrupted his strategy.
He didn’t pit during the VSC as his rivals and so he lost three places as a result but the Dane managed to get it back in a space of few laps. Retirements to three of the big team drivers helped Grosjean to fourth and Magnussen fought back to fifth.
The American outfit came close to a similar result earlier in the Australian Grand Prix but for a pit stop debacle ruining their chances. But nothing of that happened in Austria as Magnussen feels this is a justice for what went around with them in Albert Park.
“I am very happy,” he said. “For the whole team, it is just a good feeling to get a punch of a result like this and get back in the championship where we deserve to be. I am just proud of the whole team, everyone deserves this.
“It is incredible for such a small team to be getting this kind of results. We had a tough weekend in Australia and today it feels like a justice for that. On a smooth and high speed circuit like this, our car just works really-really well.
“We were struggling with blistering on the tires – the whole of the soft stint. They blistered very badly. I managed that, and then had pressure from behind, so I had to push, but I had a good race. We’ve shown this weekend that we’ve got a good car.”
For Grosjean though, it was a huge pressure relieving grand prix as he finally managed to score this season and that too a fourth place finish. “The car has been good this season pretty much on every circuit, Monaco apart,” he started.
“It is really-really good step from the past and the team is getting better and better, finishing fourth and fifth is incredible. The team has had my back all the time. With all the punches I have received [this season], it was good.
“I am pretty proud of being here today, we knew that we could do it together.” The results put them in fifth position with 49 points – 13 behind Renault, while five ahead of McLaren and seven of Force India in a tight battle.
The results also put Magnussen in seventh as a best of the rest with 37 points, while Grosjean shot up to 15th with 12. Not only it was the highest position for Haas but also best team result in terms of 22 points scored and only their third double points finish.
“[I am] more happy then relieved, I mean we know it was there,” said Guenther Steiner. “Everybody delivered [today], starting from the drivers. We just did a good job. We got little bit lucky with some guys in the front dropping out [but it happens].
“They [team] can be proud of themselves, they can be proud of what they have achieved because [it is] they [who] achieved it. Everybody does it a little bit and you make a good team. You saw how happy they are celebrating and having it on the 50th [grand prix for Haas] is even better. It was a fantastic day for the whole team.”
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