The Danish driver of the Haas team has achieved the impossible thanks to the rain on an Interlagos circuit that went crazy and will start the sprint first on Saturday
It sounds like a joke, but Haas, the American team that was last in every race and standings not so long ago, who became the unexpected protagonist of the Netflix series ‘Drive to Survive’ due to the chaotic management of each GP and the one who hardly ever appears on screen other than being a secondary actor (if not less) has hit the first pole in its history. Also the first of Kevin Magnussen, a driver who literally sat at home waiting for Peugeot to give him a car to compete in the Endurance World Championship (a car that failed to make its debut) and who was called up to help the ousted Nikita Mazepin with his family’s contacts with Vladimir Putin.
It is neither for Sunday’s race nor was it in a normal situation, but the reality is that the pole sitter of the 2022 Brazilian GP is Kevin Magnussen. It will be Saturday before the sprint, as this weekend will be the third of this year under this system, and he achieved it thanks to a stroke of luck from his team: in Q3 they placed him first in line to get out of the ‘pit lane’ and achieved the best time. An accident by George Russell just before the rain started to intensify did the rest, as the red flag caused by the Briton (who started third on Saturday, a great result despite causing the break) made it impossible for anyone to improve with the track already wet. Haas turned the grid into a sandwich in Brazil, with one of his drivers first and the other last, as Mick Schumacher starts 20th.
And it is that for lack of emotion on the track we had to look at the sky. After a dry but cold first practice session, rain fell for qualifying for the sprint on Saturday, creating more uncertainty than expected. The wind was also a factor to consider, especially in the upper part of the circuit.
The weekend has started badly for Carlos Sainz. Before he got into the Ferrari in the first session, it was confirmed that he needed to replace the power unit thermal motor, which meant a 5 position penalty for Sunday. Although Ferrari’s good performance was evident from the start, especially on the side of Charles Leclerc, Sainz never gave up, as the Interlagos circuit is a track with very good overtaking conditions, especially with changing weather conditions.
Friday’s qualifying started with a wet track and therefore with the need to start with intermediate tyres. Although the track drains very well (perhaps the best on the calendar in that sense), we had to wait a few laps for dry tires to become mandatory to put in good laps. This is where each team’s management came to light, and that’s where Ferrari made it clear that’s where they fail. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz went through Q1 too much, 12th and 14th respectively. They were not good omens, as would later be confirmed.
In the second part of the standings, Q2, both Sainz and Leclerc, as well as an almost unexpectedly shut out Hamilton, had to make the most of their options before the rain sidelined them. Both red cars made the cut, relatively easily at the end. The forecast of heavy rain appeared for Q3, but not for the first moment. Still, at Ferrari (which must have a different radar) they decided to let Leclerc start with intermediates…while the rest of the grid wore red tyres. The logic that even a child can understand, but not Maranello’s strategists, implied that it was necessary to do a good lap as soon as you started before it started to rain. At Ferrari they understood that no, that Leclerc could avoid the pit stop in this way.
Believing they were the smartest, which they eventually were with Haas, made the Scuderia a terrible fool of the pilot they are supposed to help win second place. Leclerc didn’t even complete a full lap before entering the pit lane (later than ideal, as he was sent past the pit lane) and once inside, Russell’s accident occurred. Stopped session, hard rain and Magnussen on pole. Haas’ success once again covered the Scuderia’s mockery.
In this chaotic qualifying session, the Spaniards stood out for good. Carlos Sainz, not penalized on Sunday, will start from 5th, with Fernando Alonso two positions further back and Esteban Ocon once again well past. It only remains for Alpine not to follow in Ferrari’s footsteps and at least not to embarrass their fans. If Haas has managed to stop being the laughingstock of the grid, they can do it.
Source: La Verdad
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