Waiting in the wings
“I would have loved to have a car that was able to win races, but I can only just keep pushing and continue to do my best and then hope that my chance will come one day,” says Haas F1 driver Kevin Magnussen.
take such a call?
Because I love karting. I thought I missed it. I haven’t been seriously into karting since I was 14 or 15 maybe. And it was an opportunity to get back into something that’s been a huge part of my life for close to 1213 years.
You were destined for the track, with your father also racing in F1. What was it like growing up in a family so deeply involved in motorsport?
Well, I don’t know. “Destined” is maybe stretching it, but there was always going to be a high chance of me getting into motorsport with the family that I come from. There is a passion for motorsport in the Magnussen family, and, yeah, I've carried that on.
How did Mclaren support you as a youngster and part of their Young Driver Programme? What role did they play?
Their role evolved over the years. I joined the Mclaren Young Driver Programme at the end of 200■. And then I joined this big pool of young drivers. I think we must have been around 15 or 20 drivers at the time. And then they choose the best ones from the pool and then you go into another programme and then eventually you get a contract with a Formula One team and become a test driver.
In the beginning, you start out with just joining a few training and educational camps where they teach you about dierent things in Formula One, like vehicle dynamics, aerodynamics and also physical things like training, attrition and stu like that. And then you get into simulator driving and performance stu. And then you get to drive the car at one point, and yeah, join the team.
You had a terric debut in 2014, qualifying fourth in Australia, crossing the nish line in third and classied second. You’re undoubtedly a erce and competitive racer. But are you yet to get a car that can win races? Your comments?
Yeah. I would have loved to have a car that was able to win races, but I can only just keep pushing and continue to do my best and then hope that my chance will come one day.
What is your take on Fernando Alonso returning to Renault? Should teams give more opportunities to younger drivers?
I think teams should do what is best for them.
What have been the positives and negatives of racing on the same circuit over consecutive weekends?
Positives — not having to travel. Negative — not being that good on (that particular) track (laughs).
Where do you view Haas in the order after the rst two races? What are the challenges of the team looking ahead? Well, we need to nd more qualifying speed. The car’s very strong in race conditions. So, if we can qualify slightly better, then that will give us a better chance in the race of scoring points.
With so many changes in place due to the coronavirus pandemic, how dierent does being on the grid feel?
It’s a lot more quiet. So much so that you know in many ways, it doesn’t really feel like a race. When you get in the car and close the visor, you don’t feel a dierence, but then, getting into the car before the race and not being able to see or hear the fence, that certainly makes a dierence. I miss that atmosphere. It gives you that heightened sense that you’re about to go into the competition. The atmosphere especially, yeah,
it’s kind of important.
Haas team principal Guenther Steiner in a recent interview had said that he doesn’t see things changing at Haas at least for this season. Do you agree? Yeah, I think we can extract more from this car. And also, we’re going to face dierent challenges.
So there’s going to be ups and downs, there’s going to be races where we have a better opportunity than others. And, you know, we’ll try and take those opportunities and make the best of it. So I don’t think we’re just going to see the same result.
Do you see the possibility of a Danish Grand Prix in the near future? It was talked about a lot fairly recently, but it’s gone quiet again...
Well, it got dropped. It was very close to happening and then they cancelled the idea. And so you know, there are certainly some people for it in the government in Copenhagen, and I would love to have a home race one day, so ngers crossed.