Kevin Magnussen has said he would like a penalty and puncture free race in China after the Dane suffered a first lap puncture in Australia and he was forced to start from the pit lane in Bahrain following a weigh bridge infraction.
Magnussen is confident he can score his first points of the season and Renault’s first points since returning as a constructor in China as long as he has a good qualifying session and incident free race come Sunday.
Despite starting from the pit lane in Bahrain Magnussen managed to finish the race 11th, frustratingly just once place out of the points but the former McLaren driver knows that 11th place will give the team a boost of confidence heading into round three this weekend.
“It is pretty frustrating!” Magnussen admitted to Crash.net.
“That’s how it is in racing sometimes, but we are very close so that does give us motivation.”
“I’m enjoying being back behind the wheel, pushing hard and overtaking, but you have so much work to do from the back that you can have a very strong race yet still finish in eleventh. If we start further up the order and don’t have a first lap incident good things can happen.
“The car feels really good – of course, we want more downforce and more power, but show me a race driver who doesn’t ask for that – so I’m really excited [for China] and really want to get those first points on the board. Give me a normal race with no puncture and no penalty and I think we can do that!”
Whilst Magnussen’s one and only previous visit to Shanghai was disappointing he knows there are several places to overtake around the Shanghai International Circuit and he plans on taking advantage of them.
“My race in 2014 wasn’t the best, as I struggled with the car I had, meaning I finished in 13th position,”
“There are two DRS straights so that’s obviously where you look first for overtaking opportunities. The biggest chance is into the first turn as the DRS zone starts very late on the start-finish straight so you can get close to the car in front.”
“That said, I’m always going to go for any opportunity no matter where it presents itself on a lap!”
