'Well chuffed' Magnussen keeps P4 grid spot

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen will start from fourth place on the grid for tomorrow's Miami Grand Prix, after race stewards decided to take no further action on a near-miss incident during the first round of qualifying.

Magnussen and Lewis Hamilton had both been summoned to the stewards office after the end of Saturday's session, after the pair came close to colliding at turn 17 during Q1.

Magnussen had been on the racing line with the Mercedes fast approaching form the rear. Hamilton was forced to dive down the side of the VF-23 and ended up making slight contact with the wall as a result.

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Hamilton was obliged to pit to allow his team to check for damage, before resuming and setting a time good enough to make it through tot he second round. Magnussen also made the cut and went on to qualifying in fourth place.

Both drivers were summoned to discuss potential breaches of Articles 33.4 and 37.5 of the sporting regulations about driving "unnecessarily slowly or in a manner deemed potentially dangerous" which "unnecessarily impeded" others.

But after meeting with both drivers and reviewing the telemetry and video evidence, the stewards decided not to take any further action over the incident.

"[Hamilton] was on an in-lap and could see [Magnussen] at the end of the straight," they stated in an official statement. “The unexpectedly high-speed differential between the two cars resulted in [Hamilton] having to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

“Given that neither car was on a fast lap and the fact that [Magnussen] had another slow car ahead, we did not consider either driver to be driving dangerously.

“Given that they were not on fast laps, there was no question of impeding either," the statement added. "So in the circumstances, we decided to take no further action.”

Retaining his grid position is a huge relief for the Dane, who hadn't qualified this high up the grid since his early days with McLaren - not counting his sprint race pole last year in Brazil.

Having made it through to Q3, Magnussen then benefited from a red flag for Charles Leclerc's clash which ended qualifying early and prevented everyone from completing a second flying lap.

Needless to say, Magnussen was delighted by how it had worked out. "I got a bit lucky, but I don’t feel bad about it!

“I’m well chuffed with that!" he added. "In the US, at the Miami Grand Prix, in front of our home crowd and title sponsor and other partners – it’s great to be able to get a result like that.

"Of course, there’s no points for qualifying, we know that," he acknowledged. "But that was a lot of fun and hopefully that gets everyone a bit pumped up for tomorrow. I’m very happy to be starting P4 tomorrow and I’m really pumped.

"We also know what it feels like to have a good qualifying," he added, in reference to sprint qualifying success in Sao Paulo at the end of 2022.

"A pretty good day today and obviously an exciting qualifying for everyone," commented Haas team principal Guenther Steiner.

"Kevin, ending up in P4 after setting the fastest time on used tyres out of his opponents did a fantastic job on that one.

"The whole team is very upbeat, and everyone did a good job and now tomorrow we need to keep on delivering. But if everything goes to plan we should get some points.”

So far this season Magnussen has scored just a single point with tenth place in Saudi Arabia. His team mate Nico Hulkenberg picked up six points for finishing in P7 in a chaotic finish in Melbourne.

But Hulkenberg was unable to join Magnussen in the top ten pole shoot-out today after missing the cit at the end of Q2, having already been lucky to survive an oversteer scare early in the first round.

"It’s frustrating and a big shame as the car had a lot more in it and a lot more potential," he said. "The car fits well to this place so at least that is a big positive for tomorrow, heading into the race with some pace.

“The car felt good, and we definitely should be in the top ten but unfortunately my last run got really compromised on the out lap in traffic, and I didn’t do the second lap on new tyres," he explained. "My Q2 time was on used tyres."

"Unfortunately Nico didn’t make it into Q3, which wasn’t completely down to him," Steiner acknowledged.

"[But] if you’re unhappy about starting P12 it’s not bad. We’re still in a position to get into the points tomorrow."

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