Lack of blame culture a key Haas strength

Haas proved to be one of the surprises of 2018, as it battled with Renault for fourth place in the constructors' championship during what was its best campaign so far in F1.

And although the outfit has fewer staff that many of its midfield rivals, Magnussen thinks that the culture at his team that has evolved because it is so small is allowing it to thrive.

"It forces us to be very focused and it is easier to stay on track when you are just a few departments in the team, rather than, you know, you have it all in one place and everyone is trying to get the best of each world," he said in an interview with Motorsport.com.

"You sometimes get these departments fighting each other to get the attention – where one department thinks something is important while another departments thinks the aero is important.

"This way [that Haas does] is to just get a package and make the best of it. You design the rest and you go racing. It's very simple and more direct and kind of bit easier I think like that."

While the size of the outfit is a help in improving efficiency, he admits that the team is still lacking a little bit of experience.

"I think we just generally as a group work better together, and also operational wise," he explained. "On track we do things better, little things, like you know when the weather changes last minute in qualifying, they change the cooling quickly to get more efficiency.

"The team is just more efficient also in terms of the experience we gain operating a car setup wise. A lot of tyre knowledge, we are still not there yet, but we're going forward in that area and improving our knowledge and understanding of the tyres.

"We really are making progress. It's sometimes easy to forget that it's only our third year in Formula 1 and I think we are just so efficient in making race cars, that sometimes our inexperience is what's holding us back rather than potential and time."

Magnussen says the strong team spirit at Haas is also helping him enjoy F1 more than he has done before.

"Definitely is a much better atmosphere than I've had ever, because the performance is good and also, you know, I am just in a quite a good place in my career," he said.

"I have security in terms of my future in the team and the team, you know, is very committed to me. I feel trusted and valued, so that part is very good."

He added: "When you enjoy what you do, you become better. When you're having fun with it, it is much easier and you do better. At least I do.

"I've had times in Formula 1, when it really wasn't at all fun and you know everyone starts blaming each other. And, you know, the driver is very easy to blame, and then you're out.

"Where we are, it doesn't seem like anyone is blaming each other unless we need to... like unless we need to sit down and talk together and say who was bad with this, you know. And that is just a constructive way of improving the team, but it's not like a blame culture at all."