Magnussen: Long fight with Leclerc in Miami 'tough on tyres'

Kevin Magnussen says he should have perhaps better managed his tyres during his long fight with Charles Leclerc in the Miami Grand Prix as the battle took its toll on the Haas' rubber.

Magnussen – who had qualified an impressive fourth on Saturday – and Leclerc were locked in a close battle for three quarters of the race, the Dane leading his Ferrari rival until lap 41 of 57 when Leclerc finally gained the upper hand.

After losing P8 to his opponent, Magnussen also lost positions to Lewis Hamilton and Esteban Ocon, the Haas charger concluding his afternoon P10 to secure the event's final championship point.

"I had a s****y start and then had a long fight with Leclerc, which was tough on my tyres and I probably should have looked after my tyres a little more in hindsight," the Haas driver acknowledged.

"But anyway, I think we had a strong day and got one point."

• Read also: Leclerc's race undermined by Ferrari car's 'inconsistencies'

Overall, Magnussen reckoned that Haas has made "a step forward" in Florida on the back of a very productive weekend.

"I think it's been a strong weekend, very solid," he said.

"Obviously I was dreaming of a little more than one point, but I think all the big teams finished the race and had no problems, so it was a pretty difficult race to score points.

"There [were] no gifts as such and I still got one point, so I'm pretty happy with that.

"[There was] probably a little more degradation than I'd love to have, but I think we made a good step forward this weekend."

Magnussen said that he enjoyed racing some of his colleagues – like Leclerc – who are usually well in front of him on Sundays.

"It's fun to race, of course," he said. But I would have preferred to not race and just be in front!"

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