Magnussen retired because “we didn’t have any more tyres”

2020 70th Anniversary Grand Prix

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Kevin Magnussen says Haas retired his car because they didn’t have any suitable tyres left to run.

The Haas driver started the race on a set of medium tyres. He made two pits stops, switching to an old set of hards and then a new set. But with 10 laps to go he told the team he had “a really big blister, left-rear”.

“If you can make it to the end that’s good,” said his engineer. “If not we’ll go to a C4 [soft].” However the team decided against fitting the soft tyre, which almost no other driver used in the race due to their high levels of degradation.

Magnussen was told to pit and retire shortly afterwards. Speaking to the media, Magnussen said he pulled out because “we didn’t have any more tyres.”

The vibrations from his rubber prevented Haas from leaving him out on his hard tyres, according to team principal Guenther Steiner. “We had to retire Kevin at the end of the race as there were vibrations and we were not sure any more how badly they’d affect the suspension.”

Magnussen had a troubled weekend which he believes is due to repairs made to his car following his collision with Alexander Albon in last week’s race.

“The car has not been performing this weekend as we know it can,” said Magnussen. “We know the car can perform, especially on a Sunday, in the race. It just hasn’t been performing this weekend.

“We had that crash on Sunday last week and I think the parts we put on the floor for this race weekend, they’re old parts. I can’t really say what else it could be. In my mind that’s got to be it, I don’t know, because the car can be a lot better than this.”

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11 comments on “Magnussen retired because “we didn’t have any more tyres””

  1. Ridiculous!
    The team ran out of all tyres *facepalm*
    F1 must scrap the contract with Pirelli ASAP

    #F1DitchPirelli

    1. What are Pirelli supposed to do if the team chooses to use all their tyres in Practice and Qualifying?
      Come on, you can’t blame Pirelli for everything. Get over it.

  2. So they essentially retired a ‘healthy’ car, although still understandable reasoning.

    1. Although given how close to the end he retired, the softest compound should’ve been fine for the last 5-10 laps on the fuel loads carried at that point of the race.

      1. Given he was dead last with a 5s penalty yet to take, retirement made sense. At least the can change the gearbox for free now if they want.

    2. Yet another good reason for F1 to have a different points system that awards points to all finishers.

  3. Gene Haas should be ecstatic. In just a few years in F1, his team is battling with Williams F1, one of the greatest teams in the 70 year history of F1.
    Oh the sarcasm….

    1. GtisBetter (@)
      9th August 2020, 21:13

      The trick is to copy the right team.

    2. What a disgraceful performance by Magnussen and Haas. They were so embarrassed by how slow they were they decided to retire. This is David Coulthard again retiring a healthy car because he was so crap at driving and not wanting the paddock to know how slow they are.

      1. Dude!… thats not what the article says..

        1. Dude did you read the same article? Magnussen retired the car because he was coming last. He still had some life in his tyres and had other compounds available. It was a disgraceful embarrassment.

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