After starting at the back in Canada, Kevin Magnussen is focused on a better race weekend in Baku.
What’s the focus for Baku?
A strong result would be nice. The Canadian Grand Prix wasn’t a good one for us so let’s get back to a solid performance. We’ve been making progress, even if it might not look like it from the outside, and I’m looking forward to learning a new track.
What are your thoughts on the Baku track?
That’s a big long straight! It’s going to be interesting. It’s a long track for a street course and there’s quite a few interesting aspects about it. There’s a really tight section which is going to be an eye opener the first time round and we don’t yet know about things like the track surface, kerbs or bumps. There are a lot of walls there too. I’ll be looking to stay away from those.
How would you assess your Canadian Grand Prix?
It was a difficult one. Obviously, my weekend was undone when I hit the wall in FP3 and I had to thank all my crew for working so hard to get the spare chassis ready for the race. The race itself was pretty unfulfilling. We started on the soft tyres and initially we were looking pretty reasonable. When we changed to the ultrasofts we weren’t able to find the pace we wanted so it was a hard second stint.
What’s the approach to Baku?
There’s only so much preparation work you can do before you actually see the track, and there’s only so much you can do at the track before you get out there in the car and drive it. I’ll be working hard with my engineers to get the best set-up we can then let’s see what we can do.