• McLaren news

Magnussen was not chasing fastest time

Kevin Magnussen has a plan to make F1 in the future © Sutton Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• Teams:
• McLaren

Kevin Magnussen is not getting carried away with setting the fastest time of the first day of the Young Driver Test, but said he and McLaren were satisfied with his performance.

Magnussen set a 1:33.602 to go fastest in the final hour of the first day, putting himself ahead of Force India race driver Paul di Resta and Antonio Felix da Costa in the championship-leading Red Bull. But Magnussen said he was not trying for a fast lap.

"It's always nice to see yourself in P1, but in a Formula One test we don't know what fuel other people are running, so it's hard to compare yourself to people," he said. "We have a pretty good idea of whether it was a good a day or not and we feel it was a good day.

"We didn't run in qualifying trim and I'm sure no-one did. But you don't know who ran 60 kilos, who ran 40 kilos, we don't know where everyone is. You get an idea if a time is good or not and we're happy with the whole day."

Magnussen is a McLaren development driver and currently racing in Formula Renault 3.5, where he lies second in the standings and three points off championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne. He is hoping that winning the title will open a door into Formula One.

"We have a plan that I should try to win this year and hopefully get a chance in Formula One somewhere. But as we all know it's not easy and you have to adapt to the circumstances and deal with as best as you can all the time and see then where it takes you.

"When I've finished the Formula Renault 3.5 championship I'll see where I am. Some things might have changed, but I'm confident we're going in the right direction. You have to evaluate everything and have a plan, but you have to evaluate yourself all the time. We'll see by the end of the year what chances we have and how we feel."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.