The Dane explains the main element that helped him to his best race weekend of the year in Mexico
Kevin Magnussen's pace has been transformed recently, with Mexico seeing him produce his best qualifying and Formula 1 race result of the season.
Critically, that showing was not the result of some freak circumstance, as it came from some pretty impressive pace that even meant he was faster than Red Bull's Max Verstappen in the closing stages of the race.
It is a far cry from the start of the season when Magnussen was struggling to get confident in Haas's 2024 challenger, and earned attention more for his rear gunner tactics than his hard results out on track.
The breakthrough that he appears to have made since Austin, which could prove critical in Haas's constructors' championship battle with RB, has come at the same time as the team introduced a major new upgrade – but it is not those aero parts that have made the difference.
Instead, key to Magnussen finally unleashing the pace that he knew he had within him is increased confidence on corner entry, especially when it comes to brake feel.
"This year it's been very inconsistent on the brakes and I feel like we hopefully fixed that," said Magnussen, when asked by Autosport to explain where his step forward had come from.
