Haas F1 Team driver Kevin Magnussen brought home a finish of ninth in the Russian Grand Prix Sunday at the Sochi Autodrom while teammate Romain Grosjean retired after an opening-lap incident. It was the 16th round of 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship.
Both Haas F1 drivers started today’s 53-lap race around the 5.848-kilometer (3.634-mile), 18-turn circuit on Pirelli P Zero Red soft tires, Magnussen from 13th on a new set and Grosjean from eighth on a set used during Saturday’s Q2 session.
Magnussen had a fantastic getaway, moving from his 13th grid position to 10th. Grosjean’s day, however, came to an abrupt end on the opening lap when he was punted off the track and spun into the turn-four barrier by Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi, who crept between Grosjean and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo to make it a three-wide situation navigating the tight, right-hand turn. The damage to Grosjean’s Haas VF-19 was terminal and caused his seventh DNF of the season.
Meanwhile, Magnussen held firm in 10th place throughout the early stages of his opening tire stint, briefly grabbing ninth on a lap-four restart when he got by Nico Hulkenberg but then losing the position back to the Renault driver two laps later. Magnussen continued to hold position and, as the field began its opening round of pit stops, crept as high as fifth when he pitted on lap 28 for a set of Yellow medium tires during a virtual safety car for a pair of single-car incidents involving Sebastian Vettel of Scuderia Ferrari and George Russell of Williams Racing.
Magnussen resumed in sixth when the race went back to green on lap 33 and held off Alexander Albon for the next nine laps before the Red Bull Racing driver took advantage of DRS and soft tires to slip past. Two laps later, Sergio Perez got by to take seventh when Magnussen drifted wide at turn two. A five-second time penalty was issued to Magnussen, now running eighth, for an improper return to the racetrack.
The checkered flag flew with Magnussen crossing the line eighth, some four seconds ahead of McLaren driver Lando Norris, but the time penalty dropped the Haas F1 driver to ninth. It was Magnussen’s fourth points finish of the season and the team’s seventh.
With today’s results, Haas F1 Team remained ninth in the constructor’s championship with 28 points, seven behind eighth-place Alfa Romeo and 27 ahead of 10th-place Williams.
Lewis Hamilton scored the victory in the Russian Grand Prix by 3.829 seconds over his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas with polesitter Charles Leclerc of Scuderia Ferrari taking the final podium spot another 1.383 seconds back. It was Hamilton’s 82nd career Formula One victory, his ninth of the season and his fourth at Sochi.
The 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship resumes with the Japanese Grand Prix Oct. 13 at Suzuka Circuit.
Haas F1 Team PR
