Haas reveal Magnussen had damage during qualifying

Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner has revealed that his driver Kevin Magnussen had a damaged car during his qualifying stint in Abu Dhabi, as the Dane was over a second slower than his teammate Romain Grosjean, who finished best of the rest.

The American team will still be hoping for a miracle so they can finish fourth in the constructors' championship, but the 24-point deficit to Renault seems like a near-impossible gap to close. Haas will have to finish on the podium with one car and close to the podium with other. With Magnussen starting from P13, that seems out of the realm of possibilities.

Still, despite the Dane's poor qualifying, there are plenty of positives to take from Saturday's qualifying. Grosjean was lightning-quick and left all other midfield cars behind him.

Steiner just hopes for both cars to finish in the points on Sunday, which would be a positive way to end a great season for the American team.

“We had one in and one out for final qualifying," Steiner summarised to F1i.com.

One of them was much quicker than the other, though. The reason for this was floor damage.

"Kevin had an issue with his car," Steiner revealed.