Magnussen hoping for points in Baku despite it "not our strongest circuit"

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen remains hopeful to score points in next week's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, even though the Dane concedes it won't be the strongest circuit for the American team.

The Baku City Circuit has the longest straight on the Formula 1 calendar, yes, but it combines it with very tight corners and technical sectors, where there is no room for error.

Haas have had some issues in recent races, although they're one of only three teams to have had both cars in Q3 on all occasions this season. That is because their tyres can't seem to hold up in longer runs, with the Americans struggling to find the right temperature window, making the car struggle for grip.

"Baku is a low-downforce track with very long straights, slow corners, and quite low grip from the track," the 26-year-old said.

"It’s going to be interesting to see how we go there. I don’t anticipate it to be our strongest circuit of the year, but I’m still positive we can go there and fight for points."

With this season's new aero package making it easier to follow cars on close distance, overtaking should improve on a circuit like Baku, with multiple long straights.

"I don’t know if this year’s new aero package will do too much," Magnussen countered.

"Maybe the bigger DRS will mean that you’ll get easier overtaking, which was already easy in Baku. So, we’ll see how that goes.

"I don’t know if the DRS zones have been shortened, but maybe they should be as I think in Baku the difference would be very, very big between DRS and non-DRS.

"Baku always offers a great race with lots of action, so we’re looking forward to going there."