“Where do we stand?” asked Kevin Magnussen after his first lap in Q3. The answer of his engineer Giuliano Salvi followed promptly: “You’re in P1, my friend.” Magnussen looked irritated: “You’re joking!” But it wasn’t a joke: Magnussen was first and he stayed that way – as the sensation in Formula 1 qualifying for the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo.
This left Magnussen speechless: “I don’t know what to say,” said the Haas driver in a first statement after getting out.
But then Magnussen still finds words, and they are primarily aimed at his crew: “The team sent me onto the track at exactly the right time. I was the first in the pit lane. Then I managed a decent lap. And now standing we’re on pole. Unbelievable!”
The last box comes to Haas in Brazil
He “didn’t even remotely” expect to play a role in qualifying, Magnussen continues. But now he is on the starting grid for the Formula 1 sprint in Brazil ahead of world champion Max Verstappen in the Red Bull. How good was his lap? Verstappen’s position “gives the answer to the question,” says Magnussen. “It was a good lap.”
It came at just the right time for Magnussen: he had already lined up at the end of the pit lane before the start of Q3 and benefited from the last pit for Team Haas.
“You can say that he had an advantage, but he also had a disadvantage because he was on his own, with no reference in front of him,” says Haas team boss Günther Steiner. Postscript: “His lap was perfect.”
Magnussen ahead of Verstappen by two tenths
With 1:11.674 minutes, Magnussen even stayed more than two tenths ahead of Verstappen and almost four tenths ahead of George Russell in the Mercedes. One shouldn’t just talk about luck, says Steiner: “The other cars were only ten, 15, 20 seconds behind him on the track, but they didn’t do what he did.”
“You are the architect of your own luck. We always had the right tires on the car and were always on the track at the right time. Yes, we were lucky that it rained, but the others just had to drive faster,” says Steiner.
But nobody drove faster than Magnussen. Magnussen himself could hardly believe that. He asked repeatedly on the radio, received the answer “no joke” in the cockpit, then said: “You’re kidding! Don’t joke with me!”
Haas and Magnussen tried to calm down
Then it dawned on Magnussen that surprise was in the air. But his engineer tried to dampen the resulting euphoria: “There’s still time, but we look good. The unit may continue. So let’s keep calm for now, okay?”
Magnussen tried to keep his composure. “You don’t want to shout it out,” he says later. “In the car I was superstitious and thought I can’t celebrate until it’s final.”
But he was in the middle of an emotional roller coaster ride in the car, radioed: “I’ve never felt like this in my life, people, but don’t celebrate yet.” Shortly before that he had already said: “It’s too wet now, qualifying is over.” And so it finally was.
Everyone in midfield is waiting for such an opportunity
Magnussen enthuses: “I hadn’t dreamed of pole position. After Q2 I looked at the times and thought to myself: That could be my smallest gap to pole position. And I was right! I had no idea that we would be involved in that .”
For a team like Haas, which is usually only in midfield, mixed weather is ideal “so that you can make the difference as a team, with the right decisions and the like,” he explains.
Again and again the word “incredible” is mentioned, then the sentence: “Last year I didn’t even know that I would be there this year!”
“Thanks to Gene Haas, Günther and the whole team for giving me this opportunity. I came back to Formula 1 after a year and it was a great journey.”
Steiner: Clear highlight so far in Formula 1
With the highlight in qualifying in Brazil, at least from Steiner’s point of view. The Haas team boss from “Sky” England was asked how important this success was for him personally. Answer: “I think that’s number one. Especially now.”
“You’re scared of dreaming of something like that. The whole team has been pulling out all the stops for seven years. And then the circumstances make something like this possible. That wasn’t luck, it was well deserved, because we as drivers and team were at the right place Time on the right tires.”
“Kevin got his round when it counted,” says Steiner. “He got a chance and he took that chance. Compliments for that. He deserves it very much, as does the whole team.”
What Haas now expects from the sprint race
And now Steiner wants to “build on this result” if possible, as he says. “Of course we’re happy now, but we won’t let that fool us. We’re concentrating on the race on Saturday first, because we need points. We want to keep P8 in the overall standings.”
But he is under no illusions, Steiner continues: “It will be difficult to keep everyone behind over 24 laps. I would be satisfied with points. We don’t have to win this race. If we could do that, I would be more than satisfied , but that wouldn’t be realistic. So as long as we stay in the points, I’d be happy.”
But Magnussen has something else in mind. When asked about Steiner’s attitude, he says simply that he is “of course” going to win the sprint on Saturday. “After all, I’m a racing driver and I’m on pole position!”
“Better” than the 2014 McLaren podium
And that feels “even better” than his Formula 1 debut in 2014 with McLaren, when he finished second in his first Grand Prix in Australia. “I didn’t know what to expect at the time,” says Magnussen.
“I was an arrogant young lad and I thought I was the king of the world. After that I learned some lessons about how difficult it is. And now I’m on pole position. I’ll enjoy that until Saturday. Then I’ll see my Haas on pole position. It’s going to be great. Days like this are a lot of fun, that’s for sure!”