Day two of pre-season testing in Bahrain proved to be one of mixed fortunes for Haas F1 Team drivers Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen.
Schumacher was first out in the VF-22 looking to build on the 89 laps accrued in Barcelona testing – but his departure from the garage was delayed by almost an hour as an oil leak was rectified. The German’s run plan was further compromised by a cooling problem, but ultimately it was an exhaust issue that ended his track time early with just 23 laps banked. Schumacher ran on the Pirelli C2 tire with a best lap of 1:37.846.
Kevin Magnussen fared better in the afternoon as he took the wheel of a Formula 1 car for the first time since the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December 2020. The veteran was quickly back up to speed and ended his return setting the fastest lap of the day as he posted a 1:33.207 lap on the C4 tire. Magnussen’s time was set during his final hour of running in the evening – the team running one hour longer than the rest of the field to claw back one of the four hours of lost track time in testing caused by a freight delay earlier in the week. Magnussen recorded a total of 60 laps.
Mick Schumacher – Driver, No.47:
“There were a few things unfortunately that meant we didn’t get to drive as much as we wanted to. Nonetheless, we learned more which is always positive and I have over 100 laps now in this new car. I’m hoping for a few more tomorrow but we’re in a good way where we’re learning about the car better and now it’s just about reliability. Everyone in the team is looking forward to racing now.”
Kevin Magnussen – Driver, No.20:
“It was so good to be back in a Formula 1 car and so good to be back with the team – I think it went really well. We had a good day of testing. I spent the first couple of runs getting back up to speed with a Formula 1 car but other than that it felt like I hadn’t been away. I could feel my neck at the end of it though – it kind of broke – but that’s expected. I’ll do another day tomorrow, break it even more, and then hopefully get in a little better shape for next week.”
Guenther Steiner – Team Principal:
“It’s been a better day today. It started with a few problems in the morning for Mick and we didn’t get the running we wanted but I think it was worthwhile going through it, even just to get some of the gremlins out of the car. In the afternoon, we got out a little bit late because we needed to fix the car and it was quite a good session for Kevin. We ran an hour longer than everybody else because we lost the time on the first day but overall, we’re going in the right direction. Unfortunately, we just have one day left, I wish we had three.”
Haas F1 Team PR
