“When it’s working, it’s working. I don’t know where that lap came from"

2019-06-30 10:32:53 by Matt Gretton

Kevin Magnussen finished fifth fastest in qualifying ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, ahead of both Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly. The Haas driver also beat Lando Norris in the battle for 'best of the rest'. 

Despite this, Haas was forced to change Magnussen's gearbox in FP3 which resulted in the standard five-place grid penalty. This pushes K-dog down to P10, just behind Vettel and Gasly. 

However, without any signs of that pace during the season, Magnussen is pleased his Haas car could produce such a lap even know he wasn't expecting it. 

“When it’s working, it’s working. I don’t know where that lap came from. It was there, and I took it. Today the guys have just worked so hard between FP3 and qualifying to get the gearbox changed," Magnussen said. 

"It wasn’t only my side of the garage, the other side came to help on my car too, to help get it ready. We have a few guys out injured this weekend as well, but everybody just pulled it together."

Magnussen hasn't finished a Formula 1 race inside the top 10 since the Spanish Grand Prix. Even with the penalty, he's set himself up nicely to grab some vital points for the American team. For his efforts on Saturday, team boss Guenther Steiner describes the performance as "magic". 

"Anyway, Kevin did a fantastic job today with his last lap – it was magic," Steiner added. 

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