The Haas driver suffered a big crash midway through the Mexican Grand Prix when his rear suspension appeared to fail, causing him to lose control at high speed.
Kevin Magnussen has described the moment his rear suspension “gave up” midway through the Mexico City Grand Prix.
The Haas driver was running in P16 having pitted seven laps prior, when he appeared to lose control of his car on the kerbs at Turn 10 on Lap 33.
An off-board camera shot showed the rear left suspension failing on his car, causing him to slide sideways into the TecPro barriers at high speed – destroying the car on a tricky weekend for the Dane, one in which team-mate Nico Hulkenberg comprehensively out-performed him.
Magnussen was able to climb out of the car without any injuries, but the crash caused a red flag due to the lengthy repairs needed to be made to the barrier.
Haas introduced a new specification car at the last event in Austin, however both Magnussen and Hulkenberg failed to capitalise on its potential due to circuit-specific issues.
Magnussen believes their previous issues with tyre wear could be related to the failure that he experienced in Mexico.
“At the beginning of the race it was better [tyre wear],” Magnussen told media, including RacingNews365.
“Then suddenly I fell off [the cliff] more than the others [with tyre degradation and] then the suspension gave up, so I don’t know if it’s related.”
Magnussen had briefly gone off track on the pit-straight on Lap 32 before the crash and continued on his way.