Magnussen: Haas playing 'a patience game' amid team's 'paradox'

Kevin Magnussen says patience is currently a virtue as his Haas team continues to work tirelessly to solve the tyre degradation issues impacting its VF-23.

But the Dane also notes that the US outfit is experiencing a "paradox" of sorts as it is the strongest it has ever been while fielding one of the weakest cars.

Magnussen endured a difficult Italian Grand Pric last weekend, clocking in a lowly P18 at the end of the 51-lap event, one position behind teammate Nico Hulkenberg.

In a bid to try something different and extricate himself from the lower tier of the field, Magnussen's crews opted to start the Dane on Pirelli's hard compound tyre rather than the medium rubber that was widespread on the grid.

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While he had hoped for a lengthy first stint on the white-walled tyre, Magnussen was in the pits for a switch to mediums after just 12 laps.

"It should have been possible [to go long], but we just had no grip at all, and the car was so over balanced, there was no chance," he explained.

"We couldn’t even take anything off on our front wing, the flap couldn’t go down low enough – horrendous, really bad!

"We had talked about going all the way to the end on that first hard, then hoping for a late safety car or doing as Albon did in Melbourne, trying something like that. But no chance whatsoever."

It's been a challenging season for F1's Viking, with just two points scored in 14 races, and a story of chronic tyre degradation that has undermined Haas from the outset.

But Magnussen says that Haas' underlying strength is a cause for optimism.

"I still believe the team is in a stronger place than it has been, yet it’s just a paradox that we have probably one of the weakest cars we’ve had," he said.

"With the strong foundation that I see in the team, we can do a lot better, and I think we will do a lot better.

"It really is a patience game. It’s about really sticking it out with what we have at the moment and waiting for better things.

"Work is being done in the background, and we just have to be patient until we can bring those parts to the car.

"At the end of the day, we’ve got a job to do, and we need to crack on until we get those parts.

"We can’t cry about what we’ve got at the moment, we’ve just got to work with what we have, and always try to get something out of it, no matter how difficult it looks."

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