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[LewEngBridewell]

It's high time someone posted in this thread for the first time since April! Kevin Magnussen impressed in qualifying today, and his performance attracted the attention of Rob Smedley, amongst others:

Williams performance chief Rob Smedley says his team is watching out for McLaren after being impressed by Kevin Magnussen's performance in qualifying for Formula 1's German Grand Prix. Smedley, whose drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa qualified second and third, said Magnussen's performance had caught his attention during the final part of the session.

"The midfield is very tight. If you look at what Kevin Magnussen did today it was very impressive - I was probably watching him more than I was watching our two cars in Q3!" Smedley said. "It was energising for all the people down at McLaren. It's a big team that you have to pay a lot of respect to, that can come back at you very, very quickly."

Indeed, McLaren have brought along several upgrades to Hockenheim, but it seems to be Magnussen, rather than Button, who is benefitting:

McLaren upgraded its car for Germany, including a new rear wing, and the team's racing director Eric Boullier said Magnussen had benefited from this, the removal of FRIC suspension, and the constant improvement it has made across the season.

"Every race we bring a couple of tenths and the package has started to work," Boullier explained. "Silverstone was a little bit more optimistic thanks to the weather, but already the car was delivering something better. If you look back over Canada and Austria maybe you didn't see so much, but all these races we keep bringing parts and downforce, and coming back to a normal track layout you just step up a couple of positions. [Also] our FRIC system was not as extreme as maybe some other teams."

Jenson Button reckons he could not have matched Kevin's pace today:

"I've struggled most of this weekend to find a balance," Button explained. "A lot of it was to do with braking. We changed the car quite a bit for qualifying and it was much better, but obviously it's very late in the day to start making big changes, so we couldn't tweak it through qualifying. I think we could have got into the top 10 - I had traffic from [Romain] Grosjean in the last sector that cost me a couple of tenths - but I don't think I would have had Kevin's pace."

[What's Burning?]

I think he's done very well, and his points belie the actual difference in how he's able to get more out of a car than Button. A lot of teams had noticeably squigglier cars today. Mags handled it very well today.

[CookinFlat6]

I am happy Mag can be counted with Ricc and Kyvat as this seasons sensations, to outqualify the guys he did in the cars they have is exceptional. We knew this from the start of the season. I am glad Ron seems to have a proper McLaren driver afterall. I dont see Mag has ""gotten better"" just that its coming together, more confidence, more influence on direction and updates. - Thats the most obvious thing here - McLaren have made updates that suit Mag more than the guy from the insidious era. That guy is having the "team" re-prioritiresed, back to performance orientated not "disturbing faking orientated"
and his new race engineer is the new guy - way to go Ron, subtle with a megaphone - like a Hugo Boss suit

[Roth]

Let's not read too much into this. Some drivers just shine certain weekends, then drop back again. Perez is usually very good at this, and look how that turned out. Mag had a good Australia but has done nothing overly impressive since. Whether that's genuine inconsistency or something else time will tell. He has potential but it's getting in the right car at the right time that's important, just ask Vettel or the Hulk, and he needs more than the odd good weekend for that.

[Jabberwocky]

Let's not read too much into this. Some drivers just shine certain weekends, then drop back again. Perez is usually very good at this, and look how that turned out. Mag had a good Australia but has done nothing overly impressive since. Whether that's genuine inconsistency or something else time will tell. He has potential but it's getting in the right car at the right time that's important, just ask Vettel or the Hulk, and he needs more than the odd good weekend for that.

You seem to forget that Jenson and Lewis had a bad split up a few years ago. Lewis and Jenson are now amicable with it all. Sadly Lewis' friends can not get over the break up. I feel sorry for the children when relationships end.

Mag did a too job today. I think Martin Brundle pointed out that all the new guys did well today.

Sent using NCC-1701

[CookinFlat6]

We heard from an "insider" that they let Perez go because they were looking for a new Lewis who would be faster than Button

Either Mag is or isnt. I think he is, and the fact the car development seems to be going his way says so

unless ofcourse Button was just making excuses when he said he couldnt find the balance

[Roth]

We heard from an "insider" that they let Perez go because they were looking for a new Lewis who would be faster than Button

Either Mag is or isnt. I think he is, and the fact the car development seems to be going his way says so

unless ofcourse Button was just making excuses when he said he couldnt find the balance

And it was Perez's attitude too, which is not Mag at all. With Ron's public displeasure of Button and depending on the Honda engine he could find himself in a very good position within the next couple of years. He's certainly in the handful of potential generational stars, but I would put Kvyat ahead in the rookie stakes, and Bottas and Ricc of the maturing rookies. Teachers aren't considered graduates after three years and that seems like a fairly good grounding period for an F1 driver.

Actually is this Ricc's third or fourth season? Either way, he's passed his initiation.

[sagi58]

...Teachers aren't considered graduates after three years and that seems like a fairly good grounding period for an F1 driver...

Good analogy!!

[Hammer278]

Either he's a late bloomer or another Perez. To be counted as the next Lewis, he needed to be showing the way consistently from at least Race 3. But no harm being a late bloomer, if he can use this and get a solid result today and start catching up to the Cruiser in the WDC to beat him then McLaren have got something solid.

As Roth mentioned, this is just 1 weekend. And JB in a truly lost scenario, has the ability to get lapped by equal machinery as we've seen before....so this might be one of those weekends. Don't think Mag will lap him though, but never know.

[geetface9]

Would you really want magnussen to be the next lewis, given lewis' super bad luck?

[Hammer278]

I'm referring to talent level, not whether he's been inflicted by voodoo or not.

[geetface9]

Word!

[Frontrunner]

Mag hasn't been consistent enough, needs more good drives to remain a McLaren driver for 2015.
Great Quali, has to back it up in the race and give something for Ron to smile about.

[What's Burning?]

Mag hasn't been consistent enough, needs more good drives to remain a McLaren driver for 2015.
Great Quali, has to back it up in the race and give something for Ron to smile about.

I'm sure McLaren has taken some time to develop the car towards Mags, now that it's closer to his liking things will not finish as they are. Shame about today's result.

[Frontrunner]

Mag hasn't been consistent enough, needs more good drives to remain a McLaren driver for 2015.
Great Quali, has to back it up in the race and give something for Ron to smile about.

I'm sure McLaren has taken some time to develop the car towards Mags, now that it's closer to his liking things will not finish as they are. Shame about today's result.

yeah, poor Mags got Massa'ed today.