Kevin Magnussen has revealed how a sudden improvement to the brakes on his Haas Formula 1 car has been behind his recent upturn in results in the last two races.
Magnussen has struggled to equal Nico Hulkenberg since the two became team-mates last term, but he has headed Haas‘ charge across the previous two weekends.
The Dane earned points in the Sprint race in the United States with seventh and then backed that up as he converted seventh place on the grid in Mexico last time out.
Having more than doubled his 2024 points total in the last two events, Magnussen has attributed his turnaround to discovering more confidence in the VF-24’s brakes.
Asked whether something has clicked in the car to determine his inspired recent run, Magnussen told media including Motorsport Week in Brazil: “I think so.
“I don’t want to jinx it, but it seems like there’s been a couple of changes to the car.
“Of course, the upgrade has worked well, but that’s for both me and Nico. Certainly the last two races I’ve been very, very confident with the car.
“I guess the challenge from here is to make sure I keep that for these last races.
“There’s some changes to [the] braking. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but some changes to the brakes and that really seemed to do something also.
“So yeah, I’ve been very confident and hopefully I can stay that way.”
Magnussen has explained how a delay between touching the brakes and the part responding had hampered him on the entrance phase to corners until that alteration.
“This season when I hit the brakes, they have a bit of lag, and then they bite after a little while after hitting the brakes,” he expanded.
“So that initial feeling that I hit the brakes very hard. [Compared to] Nico, my peak brake pressure is always way higher.
“I think I just need to feel the brakes switch on immediately and that’s been really hurting my confidence on the entries.
“It upsets you off for the corner in a bad way when you already feel uncomfortable with the brakes. So that’s been a big help.”
Magnussen awaiting tests on more tracks
Magnussen is optimistic Haas has resolved his braking discomfort, but he wants to test the tweaks on more circuits before being certain that it has been eradicated.
“This year it’s been very inconsistent on the brakes,” he continued. “I feel like we hopefully fix that.
“It certainly seemed that way in the last two races. There was a change that was made, which I really felt. That was very positive.
“Hopefully it’s not temperature-related. Hopefully, it is real. But certainly coincided with making that change.
“Sometimes you go to tracks that just fit the car. I think Austin and Mexico are pretty different tracks, but they’re both on the same downforce level.”
Improvement too late to save Haas seat
Magnussen’s revival has come too late to salvage his current seat with Haas as the team has committed to a revamped line-up with Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman.
Pressed on whether there was frustration that the car has become more tailored to his liking this late into the campaign, Magnussen concluded: “Yeah, of course.
“I would have liked to have that change early in the year, that’s for sure.”
READ MORE – Kevin Magnussen elated with Haas F1 upgrades in Mexico
