Magnussen shrugs off Sirotkin's FP1 run

Kevin Magnussen has downplayed the significance of missing FP1 at the Russian Grand Prix in place of Sergey Sirotkin.

Renault announced earlier this week that Sirotkin had joined as a test driver and will take part in FP1 in Russia, driving in place of Magnussen. With Magnussen having missed out on almost all of Friday practice in China with a suspension issue, it's more lost running for the Dane but he refused to complain about the timing of the situation.

"I am not going to comment on the timing, or whether it is right or wrong," Magnussen said. "It is a step in the right direction if I get two practices, it is more than I have had. I prefer to get maximum time in the car, but I don’t think it is going to be too big of a problem."

Both Renault drivers will miss FP1 sessions during this season and Magnussen is confident the nature of the track evolution in Sochi will ensure he doesn't miss out on too much relevant running.

"It just puts more focus on FP2 and FP3 really, because P1 is more about setting up the car and doing aero runs and so on. So it is okay really, it does not make a massive difference.

"In FP2 I’m going to spend more laps trying to get back into the circuit than if I had had FP1. But we are not on the supersoft in FP1 anyway, and the supersoft is what we are going to qualify on, so it is okay.

"[The track] is the other thing, it evolves a lot from FP1 to FP2, and even during FP1, so FP1 is always assessing and doing aerodynamic runs. and it is not that important."

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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.