Magnussen 'couldn't have asked for more' from testing

Kevin Magnussen says he could not have asked for better preparation for his first season with Renault following a productive pre-season of testing.

While Renault suffered from some reliability problems on a number of occasions, the vast majority fell on days when Jolyon Palmer was driving the car. Magnussen, on the other hand, enjoyed four relatively smooth days which saw him complete more than 500 laps and he says the pre-season could not have gone better in terms of track time.

"We have done more than 100 laps on every day and in total more than 500 in the four days," Magnussen said. "So yeah, I couldn’t have asked for more than that. We have been through all of the system checks so everything is now very well known to me and I feel comfortable going into Melbourne and doing a race with this car."

And Magnussen stands by his initial judgement that he expects to be close to the points at the first race of the season in Australia.

"It is never definitely. But put it like this, if we get out of Melbourne with points, any points, then I think we can be happy about that. It is probably just about outside of the top ten where we are, so if we have a good race, we can get points. That is my prediction."

FEATURE: Hello to Halo?

ANALYSIS: The two F1 pre-season tests in numbers

GALLERY: Pre-season testing

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

‘It’s exponential’: Apple bullish on F1’s 'beautiful' future in the U.S.

Formula 1’s American revolution is no longer being discussed as a novelty. Inside Apple, it…

4 hours ago

Coulthard left ‘speechless’ Formula E GEN4 car after Monaco blast

David Coulthard has never been short of superlatives in a racing career that took him…

6 hours ago

Not a flying Keke or Mika, but a Finn nevertheless

He wasn't a flying Keke or Mika, but he was nevertheless a Finn and actually…

7 hours ago

Heartbreak for Verstappen at the Nürburgring but ‘I’ll be back’

Max Verstappen’s bid to conquer the Nürburgring 24 Hours has ended in a cloud of…

8 hours ago

Button on racing’s mental toll: ‘As drivers, we’re flawed’

Jenson Button has offered a stark, unusually candid reflection on what really sits beneath the…

9 hours ago

Bearman recalls F1 debut with Ferrari as one 'crazy step’

For most young racing drivers, a call-up to Ferrari would feel like a dream. For…

10 hours ago