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The disaster for Haas continues as Kevin Magnussen was rewarded with a three-place grid penalty for impeding Charles Leclerc after the Belgian Grand Prix qualifying session.
This will make the race weekend for the American outfit harder, as Nico Hulkenberg could only qualify at P20, right at the back of the grid, after facing an issue, and his teammate would start the race at P16.
Charles Leclerc was on his final flying lap during the Q2 session on an ever-evolving track with increasing temperatures on the asphalt. Around the final sector of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Hulkenberg was right ahead of the Monegasque's Ferrari, with the blue lights flashing for him, signaling him to move.
Leclerc was seemingly disappointed; he said on his radio:
"What the ****!? I don't know who that guy was, the Haas, but I hope he gets a penalty."
Leclerc then had to abort his lap and start his final flying lap with less than five seconds remaining on the clock. It could have been brutal for Ferrari if he wasn't able to cross the line in time.
The stewards had been waiting for the session to be over to investigate the impeding issue raised by Kevin Magnussen, including others as well. The decision came with no good news for Haas. A lot of strategic work will remain for Haas to work on for Sunday's race.
Kevin Magnussen updates his contract situation at Haas
Kevin Magnussen returned to the American outfit at the last moment at the start of the 2022 season after Nikita Mazepin had been let go by the team, given his poor performances in the previous season and the building tension between Russia and Ukraine.
2022 was quite amazing for him, as he scored points in Bahrain itself and continued to carry good performances. His teammate at the time, Mick Schumacher, joined him too on several occasions; however, the latter was replaced by the much more experienced Nico Hulkenberg for 2023.
He has out-performed Kevin Magnussen on a number of occasions, and it could put his future with the team in a tense situation; however, as Motorsport Week quoted him, he doesn't seem to be worried.
He said:
"I think at the moment there’s not any news to bring and eventually we’ll come around to it. I don’t really know what’s going on. I feel like the team is pretty happy but you never know with these things and I’ll take it one day at a time."
At the moment, Haas has a lot of work remaining on their car to make themselves competitive again. They are under threat from all of the teams at the bottom of the grid, and losing hold of the lead there could be devastating for them.
