Magnussen: Haas got 'everything right' in charge to P6

Kevin Magnussen says Haas got "everything right" as it broke a two-race point-less streak in Sunday's French Grand Prix, with the Danish Formula 1 driver finishing sixth at Paul Ricard.

With Haas appearing to hold a clear edge over Renault in the fight to lead F1's midfield, Magnussen was left disappointed after qualifying when he lost his final Q3 lap due to a slow-moving Kimi Raikkonen, leaving him ninth on the grid.

After dodging the first-lap drama involving Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas, Magnussen ran as high as fifth at one stage. While he lost places to both of the recovering drivers later in the race, a second stop dropped Bottas back behind Magnussen, who also gained a place when Carlos Sainz Jr. suffered a loss of power with three laps remaining, giving him sixth place at the chequered flag.

“It was a good race and we had a good car, we got everything right. It was a good race for us, and very happy to come back from the disappointment of yesterday," Magnussen said.

"We knew we were still standing in a position of where we could probably do something good in the race, and it was our day today. I was struggling quite a bit on the ultrasofts there in the first stint, just overheating and sliding around on the rears.

"For some reason, the front tyres were working really well and the rear tires were struggling. Still, the degradation for us was quite low even though the balance was off.

"When we put the softs on, I kind of started out looking after them a little bit, which then when I got under pressure from Bottas, I really started pushing, and then the tires came alive even more and I found four-tenths, half a second more. It was just what I needed."

While Magnussen was able to add to Haas' points haul, teammate Romain Grosjean's scoreless run - dating back to last year's Japanese Grand Prix - continued as he finished 11th, having been caught in a collision with Esteban Ocon on the opening lap for which he received a five second time penalty.

"We pushed as hard as we could, but we had some damage on the car from the first lap, and that was difficult because it removed some aero balance," Grosjean said.

"I came back as hard as I could, but we were just too far back. The car is superfast and Kevin did a great job today, so I’m happy with that, but I want my turn to come, because this stretch of bad luck is becoming a bit painful."