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Magnussen optimistic about 2020 challenger despite Friday accident

Magnussen optimistic about 2020 challenger despite Friday accident

23-02-2020 16:05 Last update: 17:50
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Nicolás Quarles van Ufford

Despite suffering an accident on Friday which limited his running on the day to just four laps, Haas driver Kevin Magnussen remains optimistic for the upcoming season as the American side looks to bounce back from their worst-ever year.

In their fourth season in F1, Haas somewhat surprisingly finished ninth in 2019. This came right after their break-out year in 2018, when they challenged Renault for 'best of the rest' until they eventually ended fifth in the constructors' championship.

Magnussen, who has led the charge for Haas since he joined the team in 2017, has completed the least laps out of all 20 drivers (excluding Alfa Romeo reserve driver Robert Kubica). His puncture on Friday saw him going into the wall at the Circuit de Catalunya, ending his day of running.

“Overall, testing’s been positive for us this week,” the 26-year-old reflected when looking at the bigger picture. 

"We’ve had two and a half days of good solid running with everything looking as to our expectations – I’m very happy about that.

“I’m looking forward to next week and getting into some more performance running and pushing the car a little bit harder. We’ll work on more set-up and so on as well.

“As I said though, I’m happy with this week.”

Teammate Romain Grosjean has been doing most of the running for Haas in the first test, doing 206 of the 316 laps for the American team.