"I'm speechless, it's crazy" - Haas F1's Kevin Magnussen surprised by his qualifying performance for 2022 Bahrain GP

Kevin Magnussen returned to F1 after a year on the sidelines to partner Mick Schumacher at Haas. The Dane has already gotten off to an incredible start, having qualified in seventh ahead of the much anticipated Bahrain Grand Prix.

As reported by f1.com, Magnussen shared his extreme elation post the qualifying session, saying:

“It’s crazy. I mean, this is all we could have ever hoped for. I don’t know. I’m speechless. It’s crazy. The last couple of weeks have just been insane and getting here, learning about the car, seeing that it maybe it’s a pretty good one, but still not really knowing, being so anxious about this qualifying to really see how good it is, and then just finding out that it’s really good – crazy.”

Detailing how qualifying went, the 29-year-old went on to say:

“I got through to Q3 on one set of tyres in Q2 – I only ran one set – and I don’t know, I think it was P4 or P5 or something after the first round, and then I ended up getting through in P7. Then, you know, we had some issue that they needed more time to fix it and I only got that one run again in Q3 – and then still got P7. So it’s just so, so cool. I don’t know. I’m just looking forward to it. I can’t wait to get started.”

The Danish driver even managed to outqualify Mercedes driver George Russell, who will be starting the main race on Sunday from P9.

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Kevin Magnussen comments on reliability concerns with 2022 Haas challenger

Despite a very strong drive in the first qualifying session of the 2022 F1 season, Kevin Magnussen claims that reliability is still a point of concern for Haas as of now.

As reported by RaceFans, the 29-year-old shared his thoughts on the car post qualifying, saying:

“Reliability is certainly the biggest concern going into [today]’s race. It’s not so much the pace or balance of tyre wear or our strategy. It’s more just getting to the end. If we get to the end, I’m sure we will be able to be in a strong position.”

After a painful year for Haas in 2021, the team is finally picking up pace with Mick Schumacher. The German will be starting from P12 today, which is also his best qualifying performance.