Magnussen reflects on ‘wild’ beach to Bahrain F1 comeback
Kevin Magnussen has detailed the “wild” journey of his F1 comeback as he prepares to depart grand prix racing for the final time.
Haas boss Ayao Komatsu elected not to renew Magnussen’s contract for 2025, meaning the Danish driver is likely to leave F1 as he is not under serious considering by any of the teams with a seat remaining for next season.
Magnussen’s career initially appeared over at the end of 2020 when Guenther Steiner dropped him and Romain Grosjean to make way for Nikita Mazepin and F2 champion Mick Schumacher, but former McLaren and Renault racer Magnussen was given an extraordinary reprieve.
In February 2022, during pre-season testing, Russian president Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with Haas promptly ripping up Mazepin’s contract owing to his father Dmitry’s close links to Putin and the Kremlin, with both Mazepins being sanctioned by the European Union.
Needing a driver at short notice, Steiner approached Magnussen, who agreed to walk away from a WEC programme to partner with Schumacher, sensationally claiming fifth-place in the season-opener in Bahrain.
He would go onto take pole in Sao Paulo for his and Haas’s only pole position, but as his time comes to an end, Dane Magnussen has no regrets.
“No, honestly, I don’t, it has been fun,” he told select media including RacingNews365.
“It has been fun trying something so unexpected and it was a wild journey as I completely mentally closed that chapter.
“I then had a kid and started the next phase of my life with my wife and family – and the whole experience has been really exciting for us.
“I don’t really care about the fifth-place in Bahrain, but it is more the whole weekend. I was sitting on a beach with a drink in my hand, completely not in the F1 mindset.
“Suddenly I was panicking from the beach to the airport and then I was in the paddock, sunburnt but the whole transition was wild and exciting.”
No honeymoon
Aside from the fifth-place and pole position, there have been few highlights in Magnussen’s comeback, but the soon-to-be-ex F1 driver was at peace with that, believing the “honeymoon phase” could not last forever.
“It is to be expected [to have tough moments] when you step into F1,” he said.
“I was an already an experienced F1 driver when I came back and I knew what I was going back to, so nothing was really a surprise.
“I knew there would be bumps, and not be smooth-sailing.
“I knew there would be a honeymoon phase and then it would [go back to normal], I had it all kind of thought through.”
