GP: Sao Paulo Grand Prix
Date: 13 November 2022
Winner: George Russell - Mercedes
A dry track, a damp one, a downpour. Qualifying was a lottery. Some drivers took risks, got it wrong and paid the price.
Magnussen pulled it out of the hat in the Haas and found in George Russell, an unwitting accomplice. The Englishman went off the track and qualifying was red flagged before the rain intensified.
No one could go quicker and so the Dane secured his one and only pole position.
This was his 140th Grand Prix, his 100th with Haas, a team that had never had a car on pole.
And technically, it still didn't as this session only set the grid for the Sprint race. The win in the short race, by a twist of fate, went to George Russell who thus started the Grand Prix itself from pole, while Kevin finished eighth.
But Kevin was still credited with that pole position, the first for a Danish driver. His father Jan never managed it, after starting 24 Grands Prix between 1995 and 1998.
Kevin, born in Roskilde on 5 October 1992, made his debut in Australia in 2014, with McLaren, immediately securing his one and only podium finish. He then moved to Renault for 2016 and joined Haas for the first time from 2017 to 2020. Following that, he had a high time of it in IMSA and the Le Mans 24 Hours racing alongside his father, before returning to Haas in 2002, after Nikita Mazepin was barred from competing, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Kevin is aggressive, a fighter. He wasn't particularly popular with his fellow drivers, nor with race officials, but the fans loved him for his tough, no-nonsense approach.
Unsportsmanlike? Sometimes. Spectacular? Almost always.
In 2025 Pirelli will hit the 500 F1® Grands Prix mark during the season.
Legacy of Speed series looks back at the fifty most significant Grands Prix from Pirelli's time on the F1 World Championship trail.
