Magnussen: Dallara a match for McLaren/Renault

ByAutoSport

Published 20/03/2017 at 16:34 GMT

Haas newcomer Kevin Magnussen says the American outfit's Dallara-supplied Formula 1 chassis compares well to those he used in previous years at McLaren and Renault.

Eurosport

Image credit: Eurosport

Magnussen drove McLaren's MP4-29 in his F1 debut in 2014, sampled its MP4-30 the following year and was behind the wheel of the Renault RS16 last season.

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Now at Haas and in its VF-17, the Dane said that he has been impressed by the team's chassis and parts supplier Dallara, which had come in for some criticism for a high number of mechanical failures last year.

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"Dallara is doing a very good job," Magnussen said.

"I'm really, really impressed with them as well. I hear they've stepped up their game.

"I wasn't here last year, so I can't say really how they did then, but the job they've done this year with the quality of the components and the car and the chassis is very nice.

"It's completely up to any of my previous experiences. So, very happy."

Magnussen was 12th fastest in the first week of 2017 F1 testing with his new team, one place behind team-mate Romain Grosjean, and then 15th in week two, one place ahead.

Team boss Gunther Steiner said the 24-year-old has been a good fit for the second-year team.

"He's fitting in well," Steiner said.

"He's enjoying himself, we're making progress and he's very analytical about it.

"He enjoys to be with us."

Although Steiner has hailed the step forward made by Ferrari with its 2017 engine, he admits it has been impossible to know where his team stands in the pecking order after testing.

"It's so tight that until we go to Australia and go into qualifying, we will not know," he said.

"Three or four teams have very similar speed like ours, but as we all know [in testing], time of day when you run, the fuel load, the tyres - to come to conclusions would be completely wrong.

"We wait until Australia for that surprise."

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