Renault driver Kevin Magnussen admits he made “a few mistakes” in the first part of the 2016 Formula One season, but the Dane adds that he also performed “a few miracles” with an uncompetitive car.
Making his return in a full-time role after spending one year on the sidelines, Magnussen has generally battled at the back of the field given the R.S.16’s lack of pace.
Reviewing his own performance at the halfway mark, the 23-year-old concedes there were errors - his pit lane penalty in Bahrain springs to mind - but also thinks that finishing seventh in Sochi and scoring all of Renault’s six points so far as a result should not be belittled.
“I feel fairly happy,” Magnussen said. “I’m never satisfied because I always feel I can do better. I always feel I can improve. I’ve made a few mistakes but I also feel I’ve made a few miracles and that’s kind of what I expected.
“Russia for example [was a standout moment], that’s obviously the big one, getting points there. We qualified P17 I think so for a track that really was not our track, still scoring decent points was very good.”
Magnussen adds that racing outside the top 10 can sometimes be “very frustrating” but the former McLaren-Honda reserve driver insists there are valuable lessons to take while competing at the tail end of the field.
“You’re still learning about yourself and what you need from a car, setting it up, what feedback is important, working with the team, getting the most out of your people.
“The team work is something that you never stop learning really because you get new people and things changing on the car. That’s an ongoing learning process.
“Learning how to learn is really important. When something new happens, learning how to get on top of that quickly. There’s a huge amount.
“It’s very similar - I think because I have not really been at the front yet - I think it’s the same things that we focus on even though we’re at the back.”
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