Kevin Magnussen

Kevin Magnussen will once again drive with Haas for the 2024 F1 season, his seventh with the American outfit. 

Kevin Magnussen F1 career (2014 - Present)

With a father who is also a former F1 driver (who even took part in one race for McLaren), Kevin Magnussen comes in to the sport with a lot of expectation on his shoulders.

After graduating from karts, Magnussen’s first year in single seaters was an impressive one as he won the Danish Formula Ford championship at his first attempt. His dominance was impressive, as he won 11 of the 15 races that season and set the fastest lap on ten occasions.

After that early success, Magnussen’s career really took off in 2009. Stepping up to Formula Renault 2.0, he finished seventh in the Euroseries and was runner up in the Northern European Cup behind Antonio Felix da Costa as he only failed to finish on the podium in two of the 14 races he started. The highlight was a win at the Nurburgring, which came after five consecutive third-place finishes, and significantly Magnussen ended the season ahead of fellow Dane Marco Sorensen.

That consistency and immediate competitive pace saw Magnussen added to the McLaren Young Driver Programme in 2009. The next step was a move in to German Formula 3 in 2010, driving for Motopark Academy. The more experienced Tom Dillman took the title having been racing in Formula 3 since 2007, but Magnussen was again a race winner this time on three occasions as he finished third in the standings.

Magnussen remained in Formula 3 for 2011 but moved across to the British championship, driving for the hugely successful Carlin team. Again, it was a strong season. After a slow start the breakthrough came at Snetterton, where he took two victories from the three races. He soon followed that up with another impressive win at the Nurburgring, taking pole position and the fastest lap in the process.

However, the early rounds proved costly as Felipe Nasr had taken two wins and two second places from the first four races. From that point on it was always going to be a tall order to close the gap and Nasr went on to take the title in dominant fashion, but two wins and a second place from the final four races at Donington and Silverstone helped Magnussen secure second place. The end of season statistics were impressive too, as he ended the campaign having secured the most pole positions, joint-most fastest laps and led the most laps across the year.

With each year Magnussen was proving himself to be a quick learner and was swiftly rising up through the categories. He stayed with Carlin in 2012 but progressed to Formula Renault 3.5, racing in a championship rich with talent thanks to the likes of Jules Bianchi, Robin Frijns, Sam Bird and Felix da Costa. Despite it being his first season at that level, after finishing second in the opening race Magnussen continued his winning habit with a victory at Spa. However, a number of retirements restricted him to seventh in the standings.

McLaren had continued to be impressed with Magnussen’s potential and named him one of the team’s development drivers in 2012. That led to his first experience of F1 machinery when he drove at the Abu Dhabi Young Driver Test, and he didn’t disappoint as he set the fastest time of the week with a 1:42.651. 

Following that performance, Magnussen was named a McLaren reserve driver and confirmed for a second season in Formula Renault 3.5 for 2013, albeit moving from Carlin to DAMS. After his race-winning debut year, expectations were high and he delivered spectacularly, with two second places at Monza being followed by a dominant pole, win and fastest lap at Aragon.

However, with Felix da Costa struggling for consistency it soon became clear that it was a two-horse title race with high stakes. Both Magnussen and fellow McLaren young driver Stoffel Vandoorne were challenging for honours with the latter in his rookie season and after Magnussen won at Spa, Vandoorne went on a run of three consecutive victories.

Magnussen’s response was crucial. At the next round in Austria, a pair of third places while Vandoorne twice retired gave his title hopes a huge boost, and he followed that by outscoring his rival again with two second places in Hungary. But there was controversy at Paul Ricard where he won the first race after taking pole and setting the fastest lap but was then excluded for an issue with his DRS flap. Having been on the verge of sealing the title, Magnussen now held just an 18 point lead in the standings.

The second race showed Magnussen’s class as he won comfortably from pole and saw Vandoorne retire. He duly wrapped up the title with another pair of victories in Barcelona, ending the season with five consecutive pole positions, three consecutive wins and a winning margin of 60 points.

It was enough to convince McLaren of his talents, and when it came to choosing a team-mate for Jenson Button in 2014, the team opted for the exciting potential of Magnussen over a second year for Sergio Perez. The Dane made an impressive start to life at McLaren, justifying the hype surrounding his talent. He converted fourth place on the grid into a podium finish to become only the second Danish driver - after his father Jan - to take a points-scoring finish in F1. He also became the first debutant since Lewis Hamilton in 2007 to record a podium in his first race. He would not replicate his podium finish from Australia, but a further 11 points finishes helped him secure 11th in the standings. 

Magnussen was left out in the cold by McLaren in 2015, following news that Fernando Alonso would rejoin the team from Ferrari. However, Magnussen, now acting as the team's test and reserve driver, did infact turn up to the opening weekend of the season in race overalls to contest the Australian Grand Prix in place of the injured Alonso, though he failed to start the race after his car suffered an engine failure on the formation lap.

Having been released from his McLaren contract via email, Magnussen replaced Pastor Maldonado to partner rookie Jolyon Palmer at Renault for the 2016 season. It would prove to be a tough year for the Enstone-based team, though the Dane did manage the outfit's only points finishes with impressive drives to seventh place in Russia, and 10th in Singapore. 

He switched to Haas for 2017 and enjoyed a conistent season, picking up 19 points to help the US squad to eighth in the constructors' standings. His best result of seventh place was secured during a choatic Azerbaijan Grand Prix in June.

Magnussen stayed with Haas for a second year in 2018, stepping up as team leader in the early part of the year with a string of impressive drives. Magnussen scored two top-five finishes en route to P9 in the final drivers' standings, and was instrumental in Haas' rise to fifth in the constructors', marking its best-ever finish. 

Magnussen's third year at Haas proved less successful as the American squad struggled to understand its 2019 car concept and slipped to ninth in the standings. Once again, the Dane got the better of teammate Romain Grosjean but only managed points on four occassions, taking a best result of sixth at the season-opener in Melbourne. 

The Dane made a remarkable return to F1 during the second Bahrain test when Nikita Mazepin was dropped by the team following the Russia-Ukraine conflict. 

Magnussen starred on his debut, finishing fifth in Bahrain.

After an up and down season for the team, Magnussen shocked everyone by taking his and Haas' maiden pole position at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

2023 was a woeful season for Haas, who slumped to the bottom of the constructors' championship with their troubled VF-23, which proved fast on Saturdays, only to struggle on Sundays. 

Magnussen managed just three points-scoring finishes across 2023 and was outperformed by new teammate Nico Hulkenberg.