Kevin Magnussen says that it was better for Haas F1 Team to switch their focus on 2020 rather than turning around the 2019 season.
After the highs of the 2018 F1 season, it all came crashing down for American outfit Haas in 2019 as they languish ninth in the constructors’ championship, where they are to finish. It simply didn’t work for them as multiple issues derailed their campaign.
Haas initially thought that it was an issue with the tyres but it soon became evident that the upgrades they brought in Spanish GP didn’t work and by the time they realised the situation, it was already too late to salvage anything.
In fact, Romain Grosjean pushed Haas to change things as the Frenchman understood that their was something not clicking with the upgrade. His idea of split spec eventually helped them get to the root cause of the issue as they learnt a valuable lesson through it.
“One thing I would do is to just do something different after we introduced the upgrade in Barcelona. I would listen a little bit more to the drivers and be a little bit more self-critical,” admitted Haas F1 team principal, Guenther Steiner.
Grosjean echoed Steiner’s statements and felt it was better if Haas had reacted quicker. At the same time, Magnussen reckoned it was better for the team to move on rather than look back with regret and so the 2020 focus switch was a good call from their end.
“I really think it’s down to what we learned this year, and especially that we’ve learned a lot that we can use into next year’s car,” said Magnussen. “We all feel we need to take a different direction next year, which has obviously already been taken.
“The development of next year’s Haas is well and truly underway – it has been for a little while. A lot of the stuff we’ve been doing this year is in preparation for next year. I wouldn’t say we gave up at all on this year’s car, but we knew we had to shift focus onto the 2020 car instead of trying to save this year’s model.
“That’s better for us than if we’d tried to turn the 2019 car around. It’s better just to try and get what you can from the current car, but really try and focus on 2020.” Despite Grosjean’s ideas, Magnussen is heading him by 12 points in the standings.
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