A decade after making his grand prix debut and recording his first and only podium finish in his very first race, it finally looks like Kevin Magnussen’s time in Formula 1 might be reaching its end.
Although he was given a repechage of sorts in 2022 after a season away from the world championship, Haas have decided to move on from the 31-year-old at the end of the year, opting for Esteban Ocon as their experienced option alongside the youthful promise of Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman.But why have Haas decided not to show loyalty to the driver who has represented them in more grands prix than any other driver in the team’s history – which is still under a decade old? Perhaps that can be answered by looking at how Magnussen has compared to team mate Nico Hulkenberg. While the driver poached by Audi for 2025 and beyond sits on 22 points at the summer break, Magnussen only has five points achieved through just a pair of top grand prix finishes in 2024.
Magnussen has certainly had good weekends this season. Multiple ones, in fact. He was probably the faster of the two Haas drivers in Melbourne but lost out with the Virtual Safety Car, then pulled off one of the best passes of the season so far on Alexander Albon. Then, in Imola, he was knocked out of Q1 largely thanks to being impeded by Oscar Piastri, then gained six places in the race to finish just behind Hulkenberg at the chequered flag, which was an underrated performance.
Kevin Magnussen
| Best | Worst | |
|---|---|---|
| GP start | 13 | 20 |
| GP finish | 8 | 19 |
| Points | 5 | |
He had another strong weekend in Canada, again finishing behind his team mate in 12th after making good use of wet tyres at the start. Although he finished behind Hulkenberg again, he was likely the better performer of the two over the weekend. But in Austria, he was consistently solid. Although he lost out to Hulkenberg again on Sunday, he was the more consistent Haas driver over the weekend and deserved more than he got out of the weekend.
However, Magnussen certainly had his low points too. He managed to amass ten super licence penalty points over just three weekends to leave him at genuine risk of a race ban over the rest of the season. His Miami weekend was especially unclean, picking up penalty points for deliberately leaving the track several times in the sprint race, then taking out Logan Sargeant on Sunday. Although he has often driven in a self-sacrificing manner to put his team first by prioritising Hulkenberg, it’s hard to reward him with what have often been clear violations of the racing rules.
Although Magnussen’s efforts over the last three seasons since rejoining the team will no doubt have been appreciated, it’s also hard to feel much sympathy for him if he is to leave the grid at the end of the season, given how Hulkenberg has had the clear advantage over these last two years. But with ten races likely left in his Formula 1 career, Magnussen still has a part to play for the team he knows better than any driver in the field.
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yomig
7th August 2024, 7:24
It’s interesting that Kevin Magnussen was impeded by Kevin Magnussen in Q1 at Imola.
Man, the write-ups are so lackadaisical, there’s no data, no imagination, just a bunch of random instances bunched up.
Retired (@jeff1s)
7th August 2024, 8:59
If feels like Keith has given up for a few years now. Its quantity over quality, while f1fanatic was the other way around.
Osnola
7th August 2024, 11:16
It was not keith, so you xan relax…
Jere (@jerejj)
7th August 2024, 7:43
A fair ranking & I assume Ricciardo comes next.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
7th August 2024, 8:55
Yes, so far the only real surprise was zhou being ahead of stroll, with magnussen we’re back to expectations and that would continue if ricciardo is indeed next.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
7th August 2024, 7:57
There are quite a few occations now where articles could have done with being proof read before being published. Magnussen didn’t impede himself ;)
AllTheCoolNamesWereTaken
7th August 2024, 9:10
I think it could be argued that Magnussen has impeded himself on quite a few occasions, @thegianthogweed.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
7th August 2024, 9:19
Surely you can tell that I am referring to this specific occation which was not his fault?
AllTheCoolNamesWereTaken
7th August 2024, 10:33
Surely you can tell that my reply to you was tongue-in-cheek?
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
7th August 2024, 8:03
I believe it’s Oscar Piastri instead of Kevin blocking Kevin (that would be fun though).
A bit of a shame he’s not been able to show more this season. I ended up kind of reasonably liking him actually, a bit of a dirty driver but still credited with a few awesome moves.
Will Wood (@willwood)
7th August 2024, 8:57
I’ve fixed my find-and-replace mistake everyone!
4/10 rating for me today.
Bob C.
7th August 2024, 9:01
Well, as a someone who likes seeing Magnussen on the grid, I actually found the idea of Magnussen impeeding Magnussen a weirdly apt metaphorical description for his season so far.
Will Wood (@willwood)
7th August 2024, 9:45
That would be a pretty impressive way to earn the penalty points for a race ban.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
7th August 2024, 8:57
I’m surprised he’s leaving f1 at only 31, that’s really young considering how old drivers usually retire at nowadays.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
7th August 2024, 8:58
how old drivers usually are when they retire*
notagrumpyfan
7th August 2024, 10:46
I guess you have to differentiate between ‘retire’ (choosing not to continue in F1: Vettel, Rosberg) and losing your seat through either being ‘fired’ (De Vries), or contract not extended, option not taken up (most).
Nick T.
7th August 2024, 16:00
It’s shocking he’s only 31. He seems so much older and it feels like he’s been around forever. I still remember his debut alongside Button in Australia like it was yesterday, but it feels like an extremely distant yesterday. Amusingly, I was and continued to be a bigger fan of Jan than Kevin due to his varied non-open wheel, post-F1 career and him racing a lot in America.
Here’s one for the stat gurus:
Is there any other driver who had a podium in their debut and then had another, roughly, 200 races without a podium?
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
7th August 2024, 21:54
Nobody comes even close, since scoring a podium on debut is extremely rare: excluding 1950 it only happened 10 times, one of those in the Indy 500, and the only drivers to score one in the past 50 years were Jacques Villeneuve, Lewis Hamilton and Kevin Magnussen. According to the stats I looked up the only (non-Indy 500) drivers failing to score another one after a debut podium were Reg Parnell (in the very first F1 world championship round in 1950, 6 starts total), Dorino Serafini (in his only race in 1950), Giancarlo Baghetti (the only driver winning on his debut in 1961, 21 starts total), Reine Wisell (1970, 22 start total) and Mark Donahue (1971, 14 starts total).
AndrewT (@andrewt)
7th August 2024, 9:48
I would like to mention Lap 34 in China, where Magnussen and Stroll in similary performing cars, on the same tyre type and age, on the same strategy, spent almost the whole lap driving wheel-to-wheel throughout many corners, inside, outside, switch back, everything and the whole sequence was super clean, and for me, one of the highlights of this season.
(Of course I know we should be grateful for the seven different winners this year, but quality on-track action, even if outside the points, means much more to me.)
And even though Magnussen had to give up the place eventually, I think many other drivers would have given up right after the first corner and leave it get on with their race. Magnussen might have suspected he couldn’t hold Stroll back, but why should have he stepped out of the way without a fight? I like that spirit when he can keep it clean.
bosyber (@bosyber)
7th August 2024, 19:20
Thanks for the reminder AndrewT, yeah that was a sweet fight to see indeed!
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
7th August 2024, 9:50
I have mised feelings about Kevin. There is little room for sympathy in his departure, but with some exceptions I did enjoy – at least in principle – his no holds barred racing style though he clearly took it a little far on some occasions.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
7th August 2024, 9:50
Sorry about all the past tense there, as of course he isn’t gone yet.
Janith
7th August 2024, 9:58
He stayed in F1 for the same number of permanent(9) seasons as Grosjean. Those two are one of the closest matched pairings in F1 history. I think Di Resta was better than both of them. But only stayed 3 seasons.
David BR (@david-br)
7th August 2024, 12:05
We (don’t) need to talk about Kevin…
Even at the time, Miami felt like the long drawn out sound of Magnussen’s career deflating in one race weekend, so bad it was almost conceptual art.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
7th August 2024, 13:21
He’s had his bright days but I don’t think he will be missed much or by many people. He can be a bit too aggressive sometimes. Mind you, we could say that about Ocon.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
7th August 2024, 13:59
It’s crazy that Kevin’s career has all been downhill following his first race in F1.
It does show that F1 is no longer the pinnacle of motorsport and is getting easier. Like soccer in the Euro where we witnessed a 41 year old defender from Portugal play in one of the toughest competitions in the world along with a 16 year old kid who touched the ball a few times to help Spain win (mostly was given free space by a defender who just couldn’t bother to cover him), the sport is getting easier and less fun to watch.
Same with F1. We no longer see crashes at the start, we no longer see people lose control of the car, no one is at the limit and fighting for their seat. It’s almost like a parade at this point. Does it really matter if I drive faster except in qualifying?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
8th August 2024, 1:55
I think the fact they’re no longer racing in heavy rain and there’s more dominant seasons than ever before + DRS making overtakes meaningless is enough to no longer consider it the pinnacle of motorsport.
I think it’s indeed getting easier to keep control of the car, even cause they’re no longer driving at the limit, just coasting and saving tyres.
David
7th August 2024, 18:21
I like Kevin. No BS outside of the car, elbows out inside the car. There should always be a place for drivers like him in F1.
But it has to be said that his approach does end up costing him more than it gains. A lesson for up-and-coming drivers about when to be aggressive and when to keep it clean.
His race pace is similar to Hulkenbergs but because he almost always starts behind him on the grid he rarely has the chance to outscore him.
He’s had a long stint in F1, but I don’t think anyone would argue that he deserved to stay any longer.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
8th August 2024, 1:57
If we want to make the f1 grid a place for only strong drivers, there’s more that need to go than just magnussen, sargeant and zhou.