Haas F1 Team finished off their Bahrain Testing with both Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher running on Saturday. With three extra hours allotted to the team on the final day to make up for air freight delays, Magnussen completed 38 laps in the morning and Schumacher logged 85 laps during the later session.
Magnussen began his day an hour earlier than the rest of the field, but unfortunately saw his programme end early as a fuel system problem kept him from running. In the limited laps he was able to complete, he set a best time of 1:38.616 on the C2 compound.
“The car has had a few issues and reliability is the main thing we’re working on to be able to run the whole race – that’s the biggest job for us to do. Performance-wise, we have a rough idea. We’ve seen some good trends in the car and we’ll see next week where we stack up but at least the feeling is pretty good,” Magnussen said.
The issue was resolved in time for Schumacher to run in the afternoon session, during which he caused a short red flag, as he spun on the final corner’s exit. By the session’s end, he recorded a fastest time of 1:33.151 for eighth on the timing sheets.
Schumacher would, however, best that time in the two extra hours Haas was granted after the afternoon running ended. He set a 1:32.241 on the C4 compound and therefore moved up all the way to second.
The German’s lengthened session was a beneficial one for the team and allowed the German driver to get some more laps under his belt, as he had only completed 23 laps during his much-disrupted Friday session. Schumacher, while disappointed in the limited number of laps they were able to run, is optimistic about the VF-22 and its pace.
“In summary, we obviously haven’t been driving as much as we would’ve liked to. It’s a matter of are we quick or not and that’s what is positive – we are. We have a good car, we have something we can work with so everyone can be really happy and proud of themselves that we’ve achieved that. Now we have to be able to put it down on track when it matters, and that’s next week. I’m very much looking forward to what’s coming this year.”