Magnussen aiming to keep Renault, McLaren behind

Kevin Magnussen says that he is aiming to keep both Renaults and McLaren behind him in the race tomorrow. The Dane had a strong day for Haas, qualifying in sixth place, just ahead of teammate Romain Grosjean who ended up in seventh.

Both drivers will move forward a spot on the starting grid as Daniel Ricciardo was handed a three-place grid penalty on Friday evening. With strong points on the cards for Haas on Sunday, Magnussen is not getting carried away with his high grid position.

"The car was nice to drive in qualifying," he said. "It was just there, and performing. I was able to push brake points – get off the brakes earlier and earlier with every lap. It wasn’t doing anything unexpected, which was really nice.

"We have some quick guys behind us, and we’ll have to do well to keep it that way. We’ll be doing all we can to get a good result.They're not going to be easy to keep behind. But even with them slipping in front, we're still going to be very happy with seventh or whatever we can get. If we can get points with both cars then that will be good."

When asked about staying in front of McLaren and Renault, his two former teams, he replied: "I'll be extremely happy if I can do it [finish ahead of them] tomorrow. I really want to beat those teams, no doubt about it. But it has to be done tomorrow."

Admitting that he is happy with how the car has performed so far, Magnussen has warned against getting too comfortable. The 25-year-old pointed out that last year, teammate Grosjean started the Australian Grand Prix from sixth place, before the American team's form collapsed throughout the season.

"Of course be happy about today and satisfied, and do a good job tomorrow," he said. "But it's consistency during the year we need to focus on. Last year our weak point was consistency, because at some points we had a car - perhaps not at this level - but close. Even at this race last year, Romain was as strong as we are this weekend."

Fergal Walsh