Crash forces Kevin Magnussen to start Canadian GP from pit lane
Kevin Magnussen has had to miss qualifying in Canada and will start the race from the pit lane following his heavy crash in FP3 Saturday morning.
The team did not have time to repair the car and opted instead to take its time and build up the spare chassis. Such a change automatically triggers a pit lane start.
“It's more of a precaution, and as we won't do qualifying, it's much better like this,” said team boss Fred Vasseur. “We want to manage it in the proper way and the best way.”
The crashed chassis was actually a brand new one introduced to replace the one damaged by Jolyon Palmer in Monaco. Magnussen will now use 01, which was used by Palmer earlier in the year and became the spare in Monaco.
The pit lane start will at least allow the team to choose whatever setup it wants for the prevailing weather.
Vasseur admitted that the recent run of accidents had made life difficult.
“We have six races in eight weeks, and the last two weeks were bad for the stock of spare parts.”
Meanwhile, the team had no explanation for the accident, which happened on Magnussen's out lap: “Nothing special, I think he just lost the car.”
