Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRenault

Magnussen 'just wants a normal race' to prove himself

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After a frustrating start to the 2016 season, Renault's Kevin Magnussen says that he just wants the opportunity to show what he can do in a normal race for once.

Magnussen, who raced full-time for McLaren in 2014 before being demoted to a test and development driver in 2015 which led him to seek a new race seat at Renault this year, has finished outside the points in both of this season's Grand Prix outings.

In Melbourne, Magnussen suffered a puncture on the first lap which meant he had to pit, putting him right at the back of the field. Despite the setback, he battled his way back to 12th place so that he finished just a couple of seconds behind his team mate Jolyon Palmer.

Two weeks later and Magnussen was hit by a penalty from the race stewards after an incident in practice in which he missed a light signalling him to turn onto the weigh bridge. As a result he had to start from the pit lane, but the Dane put in a strong performance to finish in 11th place - albeit still outside the points.

"It is pretty frustrating," admitted Magnussen when asked how it felt to be so close to cracking the top ten for the first time with his new team. "That’s how it is in racing sometimes, but we are very close so that does give motivation.

"I’m really excited and I really want to get those first points on the board," he added. "Give me a normal race with no puncture and no penalty and I think we can do that."

Even so, the Chinese Grand Prix might not be the place to allow him to do that. On his first outing here in 2014 with McLaren he only managed to finish in 13th place and he concedes that it wasn't one of his fondest memories of that season.

"My race in 2014 wasn’t the best, I struggled with the car I had meaning I finished in 13th position. Certainly I’m hoping for a better result on my second visit.

"If we start further up the order and don’t have a first lap incident good things can happen," he added.

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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.