B-spec drivability immediately better - Magnussen

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Kevin Magnussen says the drivability of the B-spec Renault power unit was immediately better and he would like to use the update in Monaco.

Renault is testing its updated power unit over the two days of in-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with it also featuring in the Red Bull. Max Verstappen was quickest on Wednesday morning with Magnussen fourth and after completing 53 laps with the B-spec he says there was an immediately improvement noticeable.

“To be honest the engine feels nice to drive and the drivability is actually better than with the old engine," Magnussen said. "Yeah there’s more power, but from the driving point of view it’s difficult to feel how fast you’re going on the straight.

"Whether you’re going 330kph or 333kph is difficult to feel, but the engineers will have it on the data and they will tell us later on. At the moment the main thing is the power unit is drivable so that we can continue just working as normal.”

With Renault originally planning to introduce the new power in Canada but now considering bringing it forward to Monaco, Magnussen says he can't see a downside to using it one race earlier.

“I think it’s not that different in Monaco than other places in terms of how important drivability is. Everywhere you drive it’s important to feel the power and to be able to control it. As I said, this power unit is actually better than the old one and we haven’t had that much time to work on it. Straight away out of the box it was better drivability, so hopefully the power is a good step as well.

“Always when you put a new engine in the car it needs a bit of trimming to get the power delivery right. Especially with these new engines, with all these systems every engine is a bit different and it needs fine-tuning every time, even if it’s not a new spec engine. Just the same version of another engine needs work. All I can say is I’m happy that it’s drivable and it means we can continue working on it.”

And asked if he'd be happy to have the update in the Renault in Monaco, Magnussen replied: “Yeah definitely.

"Whether we get it or not ... I’d like to have it but I’m not deciding it.”

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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.