F1: Renault using races to test, Magnussen says

The Renault Formula 1 team has resorted to using parts of grands prix as test sessions to experiment with set-ups as it is so far off the pace.

Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer were slowest in European Grand Prix qualifying in Baku last weekend. The Dane ended up starting from the pitlane anyway after the team changed the gearbox and carried out further set-up tweaks in parc ferme.

"We realized after P3 that we were going to be very slow and went a completely different way on the set-up," Magnussen explained. "We tried the car in a place that we'd never tried it before.

"It wasn't good but it was the right thing to try something different – not because we thought it would be really better, but just to learn. We're in a position where we need to learn. We're testing at the moment."

Magnussen said the focus of work in Baku had been to resolve "problems over the curbs" that had also cropped up in both Monaco and Montreal.

"It's been one of our biggest problems and we haven't been able to fix it," he said. "It felt too stiff and it didn't stop bouncing when you landed off the curb.

"In qualifying [after the changes] it was quite good over the curbs, but not so good everywhere else. What we did kind of fixed the problem with the curbs but introduced loads of other ones. So it's not better but at least we know what will fix the curb issue."

The Dane had no qualms about taking the experimental approach as he felt the best Renault could have done with its current package in Baku qualifying was inching ahead of Marcus Ericsson's Sauber for 20th.

"We realize we're not fighting for anything in qualifying, so we're prepared to just learn in this position," said Magnussen, who went on to finish 14th ahead of Palmer in the race. "Even with a perfect setup for qualifying, we wouldn't have been many places up. We could maybe have beaten the guy in front but not much more than that."

Originally on Autosport.com