SAKHIR (Ekstra Bladet): Kevin Magnussen is back in style!
A fifth place in the Bahrain Grand Prix triggers ten points, which is the Haas team’s best result since Austria in 2018!
The colors of the Haas racer in 2022 are similar to the one from 2018, when the 29-year-old Dane celebrated his greatest triumphs.
And it’s apparently at least as good.
Neither hydraulic problems, lack of reliability during testing nor a neck that a few weeks ago was anything but Formula 1-ready could stop Kevin Magnussen from completing his adventurous comeback.
Nor a late safetycar when Pierre Gasly’s Alpha Tauri was on fire in the same spot on the Bahrain International Circuit that Romain Grosjean drove wrong in 2020.
Beforehand, there was some concern about how many of the brand new cars would go out, but 17 saw the checkered flag.
Red Bull had technical problems at the very end and went out, which advanced Magnussen two places from sewing to fifth place.
– Fucking, viking comeback. Thank you, Kevin, team leader Günther Steiner almost screamed over the radio.
– Boys, I do not get it, it sounded from the Dane.
The three traditional top teams are still one level ahead of the rest, and the battle for victory was between Ferrari and Red Bull. Charles Leclerc won that duel, although defending world champion Max Verstappen gave him battle to the line in the first part of the Grand Prix, right up until their technical problems.
Lewis Hamilton reached the podium, but it was more luck than sense.
A 15-month break from Formula 1 does not mean that Kevin Magnussen has forgotten one of his core competencies; the starters!
Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas almost slept, and Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez was not too quick when the lights went out, which the Dane used to advance two places.
He was close to hitting Lewis Hamilton too, but backed off in the decisive duel.
It soon became clear, however, that both Mercedes and Red Bull have more to shoot with than the Haas racer.
For a while, Magnussen fought back, but even though he still needs to find the rhythm 100 percent, there was more speed in the others.
The season premiere suggests that we should once again talk about the ‘best of the rest’ behind Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes. However, the jump is not as big as in 2018, and the German team clearly behind the other two.
Mick Schumacher’s start was compromised by Esteban Ocon, who was given a five-second penalty for pushing to the German and provoked a 360-degree turn, which the Haas driver saved quite elegantly.
However, he never really managed to get forward in the field and finished 11s.
One of the decisive reasons for these extensive rule changes was that they wanted closer races, and this indicates that the mission has been successful.
There were a number of good duels where cars switched positions back and forth. Not least in the front between Charles Lerclerc’s Ferrari and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.
Williams was slow as expected after the test, and Nico Hülkenberg had an understandably difficult time as a replacement for corona-stricken Sebastian Vettel.
But the big disappointment was last year’s fours in the constructors’ world championship. After a very positive form curve with podiums and even a victory last year, the McLaren drivers were nowhere!
Many other Danes have been in action this weekend – with varying degrees of success.
Frederik Vesti got off to a terrible start in his first season in Formula 2. The Mercedes-backed Dane drove a bad qualification and was pushed off the track in the main race at the start.
ART teammate Theo Pouchaire won.
Christian Lundgaard’s RLL Racing also did not quite hit the mark with the setup in Texas, where the East Coast runs its first Indycar race on an oval track. The three cars start 24, 25 and 27 when going off Sunday night.
But otherwise there was a lot of Danish success in sports cars in the USA.
For the WEC race at Sebring, Michael Christensen won GT Pro class and Nicki Thiim in GT Am.
When the 12 hours were later driven on Sebring, Mikkel Jensen helped to win the LMP2 class.
Kevin Magnussen should actually have driven at Sebring for Chip Ganassi Racing, and the American team could do without him. Magnussen’s car, Cadillac # 02, won the iconic race.