“I would still have to pinch myself,” Kevin Magnussen reacts to his shock return to F1
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Kevin Magnussen during qualifying
Kevin Magnussen went on to say that he has gained a new sense of appreciation for the privilege of being a Formula One driver after sitting out of the sport for a year. After not being retained by Haas for the 2021 season, it meant that K-Mag was effectively out of F1 for next season. The Danish rider further went on to race sportscars in 2021 until fate came into play.
With the ongoing geopolitical situation between Russia and Ukraine, Nikita Mazepin’s contract was effectively terminated. This also meant the termination of Uralkali’s title sponsorship over Haas. Kevin Magnussen was approached to replace the Russian driver which he gladly accepted. With Mick Schumacher as his teammate, it is a comparatively less hectic relationship for the two Haas drivers compared to previous team pairings.
2022 being a huge rule change for F1 was one of the reasons that Kevin Magnussen came back to Formula One. The Haas driver managed to score an impressive 5th place finish at the season opener in Bahrain. Kmag has led the team so far this season. Ahead of the summer break, the Haas driver gave an interview in which he talked about his experience coming back into the sport.
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“Nothing else is like Formula 1,” Kevin Magnussen states while talking about his return to the sport
“It’s such a big thing to get to be a Formula 1 driver. That’s one of the things I really started realising last year when I wasn’t in it. When you see from the outside…you realise how many people watch it and how many people talk about it during the race weekends at home. So I started to really appreciate that and it kind of hit me, how big it is. Then to come back into it, I appreciate it much more being at every race,” he said.
“I think that if there hadn’t been that whole thing about the new regs and if Haas had been where they were last year, and the rules would have continued like this for another five years, I would have probably hesitated,” Magnussen said. “I was excited to get back to fighting for pole position and race wins every weekend. But there’s only one Formula 1. Nothing else is like Formula 1,” he continued.
While there is a massive improvement in Haas’s performance with these regulation changes, they are still a long way from fighting for victories, let alone podiums. It will be great to see if Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher can change that.
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Varad Joshi
(940 Articles Published)