“I wish I had a better mindset,” Kevin Magnussen regrets his extremely disappointing F1 debut campaign
Kevin Magnussen has talked in detail about the challenges he faced in his rookie season in F1.
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Kevin Magnussen (Credits: Planet F1)
Kevin Magnussen, the Haas F1 driver, has recently sat down and candidly talked about the time he made his debut at the pinnacle of motor racing. The Dane first got his taste of F1 in 2014, when he partnered alongside Jenson Button for the McLaren F1 team. During his first outing at the Australian GP, he was even able to score a sensational P2 finish.
However, after that, things completely went southwards for Kevin Magnussen, and he was shown the exit door ahead of the 2015 campaign. He regrets how his first F1 season panned out, and while talking about it, he said, “I wish I had a better mindset and that people had prepared me a little more. Maybe [they should have] told me there were the highest expectations from the team, and I was surprised by Ron Dennis, and McLaren was a different team.”
“When I got to McLaren, it would be the equivalent of getting a Mercedes now: they’ve been winning and fighting for championships. I always expected to do that, so I knew the expectation was to win, and when McLaren started to struggle, I just felt that pressure too much. If I had gotten into Formula 1 with Force India, which was a close call, it would have been different, maybe I would have adjusted and said: ‘Okay, I need to finish in the points.’ It was just hard being a McLaren driver.”
Magnussen has clearly admitted that he found it extremely tough at the Woking-based McLaren F1 team during his rookie season in the sport. He came into F1 with the hope of fighting for the Championship, but when McLaren started to struggle with the development of its car, the pressure proved too much to bear for Magnussen. It is quite understandable as at the pinnacle of motor racing, everything is cutthroat, and even one big slip-up can end a driver’s career. This is exactly what happened to him, and he feels things could have panned out differently had he joined another team on the grid.
Kevin Magnussen has revived his career since rejoining Haas F1
Kevin Magnussen was the driver of the Haas F1 team before Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin, but before their arrival, he was shown the exit door. However, he is now back again with the American team and has completely transformed his F1 career. From fighting to stay in F1 every year, he has built a stable base for himself in the sport.
He has become a well-established F1 driver, and it was very much helped by the way in which he was able to dominate Mick Schumacher last year. But with a new year, he has a new partner at Haas in the form of the midfield maestro, Nico Hulkenberg. The German, after spending quite a few seasons away from the F1 grid, is finally back and is giving Magnussen a run for his money.
While the Dane driver was easily able to beat Schumacher in 2022, the same has not been the case this year. Nico Hulkenberg being the experienced driver he is, has been able to pose a serious threat to Magnussen this year. Moreover, after three races, the German has managed to amass six points compared to the Dane’s 1.
This speaks volumes about the tough challenge that Kevin Magnussen has got in front of him this year. The ongoing campaign has 20 races left on the calendar, and considering the dominating for of Hulkeberg, do you think that Magnussen would be able to bounce back strong in the upcoming races of F1?
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Rishabh Negi
(3244 Articles Published)