The Formula 1 driver market continues to turn ahead of the Hungarian GP. However, not with a contract signing for the coming year, but with the opposite. As Haas announced in a press release on Thursday morning, Kevin Magnussen will no longer be racing for the US team in 2025.
Magnussen’s departure is anything but surprising. The Dane had been considered a shaky candidate for months, even after Nico Hülkenberg’s departure to Audi-Sauber was announced in April. At the Austrian Grand Prix, the former McLaren and Renault driver indicated that he could easily accept a future outside the premier class.
Magnussen is out: way clear for Esteban Ocon?
A future outside of Haas is now a fact. It actually seems unlikely for him to stay in Formula 1, unless the driver market has any more surprises in store. After a year and a half in which he was clearly outclassed by Hülkenberg within the team, Magnussen is currently not specifically linked with any other team.
With Magnussen officially leaving, it is clear that Haas will be starting with a completely new driver pairing next year. Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman was announced a few weeks ago as Haas’ regular Formula 1 driver for 2025. Who will get the second cockpit has not yet been communicated. But everything indicates that Esteban Ocon will switch to Haas. According to consistent reports from the past few weeks, Ocon has even already signed a contract.
Kevin Magnussen: A Formula 1 career for Haas
The name Magnussen and his Formula 1 career are almost inseparably linked with Haas. The 31-year-old is the longest-serving Haas driver. After two difficult Formula 1 years at McLaren (2014) and Renault (2016) to the team from Kannapolis and found a long-term F1 home there. Until 2020, he competed for Haas alongside Romain Grosjean.
After being kicked out in 2020, Magnussen took over Nikita Mazepin’s cockpit shortly before the start of the 2022 season. By the end of 2024, he will have a total of seven seasons under his belt for Haas, or 147 Grands Prix (assuming he doesn’t miss a race in 2024).
His greatest success for the team, which is based in Banbury, UK, in addition to its US headquarters, is probably pole position at the 2022 Brazilian GP. In racing, his best results for Haas are three fifth places, most recently in his comeback race in Bahrain in 2022.
Magnussen: Haas gave me a chance when my F1 career was already over
The end of his career at Haas leaves no bad blood between him and Haas. Quite the opposite: Magnussen was grateful when announcing his departure: “I am proud to have driven for such a great team over the past few years. I would especially like to thank Gene Haas for his trust in me. Especially for bringing me back in 2022 when I thought my time in Formula 1 was over.”
Team boss Ayao Komatsu also thanked Magnussen for his long relationship with the team, highlighting his fifth place in the 2022 Formula 1 comeback in Bahrain as a memorable moment. “He has really been a mainstay of our driver line-up over the years. No one has driven more races for us and we have had some memorable highlights together,” said the Japanese.
Haas wants to keep Magnussen: future behind the scenes?
Komatsu announced that he wants to keep the door open for Magnussen to join the team – albeit not as a regular Formula 1 driver. “As Kevin has a special relationship with the team, I hope we can find a way to continue working together in some form. We can hopefully establish that in the near future, but his extensive experience in Formula 1 and his knowledge of our working processes will undoubtedly be of value to our continued growth and development.”
How his racing career will continue is not yet known. Unless Magnussen surprisingly gets another place in Formula 1, he is eyeing the continuation of his career in Indycar or endurance racing. He has already had a taste of both categories: in 2021, during his Formula 1 break, he completed a season in the North American IMSA series, and in the same year he also started as a reserve driver for McLaren in an Indycar race.
