Summer break grades: Haas, Grosjean and Magnussen!
It's the summer break and the perfect time to look back on the first part of the season and decide how well or how badly teams and drivers have performed this season! Today it's the turn of Haas F1 team, and their drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean!
Haas F1 - 4/10
Where do we start with Haas? The best season of their short F1 history in 2018, and expected to be one of the midfield frontrunners this season, but it just hasn't panned out that way. Rapid pace in qualifying at times, but results have been few and far between as the cars fall backwards during the race. The American team have really struggled to get on top of the tyres, failing to get them in a working temperature range, which means the drivers can't push as much as they would like during races. The car obviously has pace, but the clear flaws have meant that they've had a really tough time this year, as they sit above only Williams in the constructors' standings.
Kevin Magnussen - 5/10
The Dane has had a frustrating time this season, but it all started well with an impressive sixth placed finish in Australia. However, since then, it hasn't been easy riding for Magnussen, with only two points finishes since then in Spain and Germany. A particularly low point for the former McLaren man was his angry radio exchange with team boss Guenther Steiner in Canada, when he said driving the car was his "worst experience" in motorsport. Despite the poor results, Magnussen has stayed fiery and continues to battle hard on track.
Romain Grosjean - 3/10
It's been another disappointing season for Grosjean, who hasn't been at his best for a while now. The Frenchman's pace is a far cry from his Lotus days, when he regularly appeared on the podium, and he has scored just eight points this season, and six of those were in the unpredictable German Grand Prix, where even Williams' Robert Kubica got into the top ten! At 33 years of age, Grosjean might struggle to retain his seat for 2020 if he doesn't improve his results soon.