• McLaren

Magnussen lauds McLaren upgrades after fourth

ESPN Staff
July 19, 2014 « Massa 'unable to drive perfect lap' despite third | Red Bulls and McLarens beatable - Alonso »
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Kevin Magnussen admits he never expected McLaren to have the pace to claim fourth on the grid at Hockenheim and says it is down to the team's latest upgrade package.

McLaren came to Hockenheim with a new rear wing for both its drivers and also shortened its gear ratios on Friday night, using the 'joker' given to each team allowing one change a season. Magnussen looked to be on good form throughout qualifying and ended up finishing ahead of both Red Bulls on the third row, something he says the team deserves credit for.

"I don't think we came into this weekend thinking that P4 was our position, but there you go" Magnussen said. "We had a new rear wing which was delivered early, so a fantastic job from the guys at the factory for pushing that through. Also well done to the guys in the garage for getting the most out of these new bits, a really good day."

Despite the positive new upgrades brought to Germany by McLaren Magnussen is braced for a tricky time during Sunday's race.

"A podium is pretty much out of reach, I think. It will need a lot of luck for us to be on the podium but we will go for that! It's a race, it's a lot heavier, the car, and the weather could be a lot different and that may change a lot of things. But P4 is a very good starting position."

Team-mate Jenson Button failed to make it into Q3 and will start 11th, something Magnussen thinks is down to the 2009 world champion struggling to adapt to the changes as quickly.

"Jenson seems to be struggling this weekend but the car is a lot different, so setting the car up has been tricky because so many things have changed."

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