In what was arguably Kevin Magnussen’s most iconic moment in F1, the Dane secured pole position at the 2022 Sao Paulo GP, baffling the entire paddock. As he pulled a rabbit out of the hat with his performance at Interlagos that afternoon, his race engineer failed to fulfill a promise made to the entire team, which remains unfulfilled.
Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner appeared on The Fast and the Curious podcast, where one of the hosts asked him about a supposed bet made by Magnussen’s race aide — Mark Slade.
“I heard a rumor that Kevin Magnussen’s race engineer [Mark Slade] had — on the way to the circuit that day — offered to take everyone out for a meal if Kevin got pole position,” he said.
OH MY WORD
POLE POSITION KEVIN MAGNUSSEN!!!! pic.twitter.com/NilZC8Xacb
— MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) November 11, 2022
Steiner was shocked. He insisted that he had never heard about this arrangement, and declared that since he was the team principal of Haas at that point, they should have kept him in the loop. At the same time, Steiner — because he didn’t know about it — assumed that it never happened. “Mark Slade, owes everybody (still) a meal.”
In a humorous moment, Steiner looked directly into the camera and delivered a message to Slade: “Mark, you owe the team a meal. And since I was part of the team too, you need to invite me as well.”
Magnussen and the rest of the Haas crew may not have enjoyed a ‘Brazilian steak’ that afternoon in Sao Paulo, but it was undoubtedly one of the best moments experienced by the team during their tumultuous stint in the sport so far.
Magnussen’s best moment at Haas
Heading into qualifying at Haas, not many people had Magnussen’s name as the favorite to qualify in P1. And who could blame them? Haas, which had started 2022 well, faltered towards the end of the season (when the race was taking place), and its drivers — Magnussen and Mick Schumacher — struggled to get into Q2 in some races.
However, Magnussen drove like a man possessed that afternoon. He made it into Q3 after tough competition from the rest of the midfield and then put in what was arguably the best lap of his F1 career. After the first flying laps, rain came down and that did not allow anyone else to improve which effectively secured Magnussen’s pole.
With a time of 1:11.674, he was one-tenth clear of second-placed Max Verstappen. An ecstatic Magnussen celebrated wildly in the garage with the Haas crew, fully savoring every moment of the glory.
Unfortunately for Magnussen, his strong performance did not translate into results in the sprint race. Despite starting on pole, he finished the sprint race in P8 and had to retire from the Grand Prix due to a collision with Daniel Ricciardo.
With Magnussen most likely to lose his place at Haas and in F1 next year, his pole position in Brazil was arguably one of his best performances to date — right up there with his P2 finish on debut with McLaren, which remains his only podium to date.
