Race - US GP report: Renault F1

Renault Sport Formula One Team’s Kevin Magnussen made a late charge to take P11 on track and thus finished just shy of the points in today’s United States Grand Prix. Kevin started from P18 on a planned one-stop strategy but as the race played out this was adapted to a two and finally a three-stop. Post-race Kevin was given a five-second penalty, placing him twelfth in the final classification. Jolyon Palmer finished in P13 using a two-stop strategy.

Kevin started the race from P18 with new set of Pirelli’s soft compound tyres. He stopped on lap 13 for another new set of soft tyres, switched to new medium compound tyres on lap 27 and then new super soft tyres on lap 43.

Jolyon started the race in P15 on new soft tyres. He stopped on lap 15 for a new set of soft compound tyres and on lap 26 for a final set of new medium tyres.

Kevin Magnussen

“We started with the plan for a one-stop strategy but we quickly realised that it wasn’t the best option so we swapped to a two and finally a three-stop strategy. It was tougher on tyre wear than we predicted but that did mean I was able to have some fun at the end of the race on the super soft tyres – it was the most fun I’ve had in the car all season, being able to push hard to the chequered flag. It was a pretty decent race considering our qualifying position. The penalty is frustrating, but that’s racing sometimes.”

Jolyon Palmer

“I had a slow start and unfortunately lost a few places that allowed Kevin to pass me, which then meant I was on his gearbox for a good two-thirds of the race. We were really struggling to follow other cars and although I was quicker, I couldn’t get close enough to pass which was so frustrating. I could have tried to lunge but that’s not a clever thing to do between team-mates. In the end, I overheated my tyres trying to overtake and fell back a little bit.”

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal

“I’m in two minds about today’s Grand Prix. I’m happy we were able to adapt our strategy well as the race evolved, however at times our race pace was not as consistent as we’d like. In our first stint we didn’t seem to make good progress, yet at times we did see both cars deliver decent lap times considering their respective tyre conditions. We will be very vigilant in our post-race analysis to understand where we can better maximise our opportunities in the future. We finished just shy of the points today, but in the points is where we want to be.”