Kevin Magnussen could not hide the disbelief in his face as he reacted to a shock pole position at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The Dane went quickest overall in the early part of Q3, before the session was briefly red-flagged when George Russell span off the circuit. By the time qualifying resumed, heavy rain had swept across the track and there was no way anyone else was going to be able to improve their times.
So Magnussen and Haas were rewarded with their first-ever pole positions in Formula 1. "I waited a long time yeah, and I still can't believe it," said the stunned racer. "What a phenomenal job the team did to put me out on the pit lane as the first car, to give me the best piece of track. It started to rain so that was the crucial part today, just getting the best part of the track for me. Amazing job by them.
"It's Q3, and you've got to go for it. The car was strong, we were in contention for Q3 and looking good enough, but it was always a bit drizzly and not fully dry – I think our car was perfect for that. Today, the difference was getting me out as the first car. This sport, you go up and down – at least I do. But it's a lot of fun when it's days like this, that's for sure."
Magnussen is well-known for having finished on the podium in his first ever F1 race, as a McLaren driver back in 2014. He has aged and matured a lot since then, and even dropped out of the sport last season before being called back into the Haas team at short notice after Nikita Mazepin was axed just a few weeks before the start of the campaign.
"More surprising, and I think it feels better," said Magnussen of his latest achievement. "I didn't know what to expect back then – I cam in as this arrogant little kid thinking I was the king of the world, and I had a lot of lessons after that showing how difficult it actually is in this sport. And now I'm on pole position, so I'm just going to enjoy it."
And looking ahead to Saturday's Sprint, he said: "Absolutely I will go for the win, I'm a racing driver and I'm on pole position!" Meanwhile, team principal Guenther Steiner said he would simply be happy if Magnussen can bring home a few points.
Asked where that moment ranked in his best F1 moments, Steiner told Sky Sports: "I think it's number one. It's the sort of moment you're scared to dream about. We've been trying hard, the whole team trying hard for seven years and circumstances let us pull this one off.
"But I think it was not luck, it was well deserved from the driver and from the team for being on the right tyre at the right time, and Kevin putting the lap down when it was needed. He was first out there and you can say he had an advantage, but the disadvantage was he had no-one to gauge with – he was on his own.
"So he just put the lap down and it stuck. Basically, when it rains soup you need to have the spoon ready, and we had the spoon ready today. At the right time, he put the perfect lap down. The last races were not good for him, we always had some issues, but today... you just do what you can do. Credit to him, he was given the opportunity and he took it."
