Kevin Magnussen

The son of former McLaren Formula One driver Jan Magnussen makes his Formula One debut in the 2014 season. He started his racing career in karting and quickly moved onto more powerful single seaters.
After early success in Danish Formula Ford he was soon competing and winning in Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula 3 before competing in the Formula Renualt 3.5 series and winning the championship in his second year.

As a product of the same driver development program that brought us Lewis Hamilton as well as a strong racing pedigree, Magnussen has become accustomed to winning at all levels of the junior motorsport ranks and will want to continue his success when he makes his debut in March.

 

[Olivier]

... and instead they put in Hakkinen, the guy that had out-qualified Senna the first time out? Maybe back then logic was Mika would toe the line?

 

[cider_and_toast]

Don't forget Mika was doing impossible things with a three season old Lotus chassis in 92. He was signed to replace Senna. It was simply ironic that Andretti was let go at just the time his peformances had turned a corner. If only he'd listened to his dad, who said you couldn't live in America and be so far away from the European centred F1.

KMag needed to get a lot closer to Jense in order to have maximised his chances. It's hard to say how much better he was than Perez which is a comparison he really didn't need.

 

[RasputinLives]

It doesn't help KMags recall chances that Mclaren have two other very good youngsters in Vandorne and Nyck De Vries who are likely to be keeping in the headlines next year by winning races in junior categories.

I wonder if KMag will consider doing a Glock and Grosjean and dropping down to GP2. At least that way he keeps his name in the mix and he'd get the chance to beat Vandorne.

 

[Incubus]

Don't forget Mika was doing impossible things with a three season old Lotus chassis in 92..

------------------------------------

Come to think of it so was Johnny Herbert, who was quite often quicker than Mika that year. The Lotus became more competitive that year with the Cosworth than it'd been with the Judd.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Herbert did well but Mika was definately the better over the season. Mika scored 11 points to Johnny's 2. Mika did fail to qualify for the San Marino GP though.

Both of them are still great in my eyes.

The Ford HB customer engine was a huge step forward from the Judd powered 102B. If only they had more money to fully develop the 107 and it's active suspension they could have retained Mika and put up a challenge in 93.

 

[Il_leone]

Herbert outqualified Hakkinen 9-7 and was generally the quicker of the two in races before his car seems to always breakdown

The trouble for Johnny was he stayed at Lotus out of loyalty for too long although he did have a good 1993 season when his car was up to it

There was suggestion that Williams were considering him when Mansell quit

Hakkinen took a punt on the opportunity provided by Mclaren. At first it looked like he might have made a mistake but it turned out right after shaking off his wildman tag


Going back to KMag I think Mclaren are hoping that Caterham might have a seat to fill to get him to learn the hard life of F1 and probably Honda would be happy to supply engines to that team in future

 

[Galahad]

I think it's a tough call for Kevin, albeit understandable. The McLaren is unlikely to be a championship contender next year with a brand new engine - the farcical first test notwithstanding - and with the best will in the world, JB isn't going to get any faster at this point in his career. Managed decline more like it.

On the other hand his relationship with Honda should be beneficial - but won't Alonso be monopolising the development of the car? That's what Alonso does, isn't it?

Anyway I hope Magnussen gets another chance in F1. It was McLaren that got him up to F1 in the first place, so it could be tricky against the youngsters whose talents are burning holes in their wallets.

 

[Kewee]

Galahad ..... I certainly hope and expect Alonso will lead the development of the new McLaren. This is a quote from Ron Dennis in the May issue of F1 Racing 2007. "Alonso truly understands how to make an F1 car go fast....and go faster, which isn't necessarily the same thing. He can describe to his engineers and others in a technical way the feedback his car is giving him." Dennis continues, saying, "this comes from experience, expertise and from intelligence and from a high level of natural sensitivity which prevents a team from going down time wasting cul-de-sacs and as a result car development becomes more linear."
It's hard to believe these quotes come from an interview with Ron Dennis at the beginning of a season that turned out so badly for both himself and Alonso. In saying that the qualities Alonso possesses have matured even further and will be just what McLaren needs in 2015.
Just a final word for those that will say, he didn't do Ferrari much good. Any driver, no matter how good he is, requires a car with a decent baseline to work with. Every Ferrari Alonso has driven in the last five years has had significant flaws which makes a car very difficult to develop and improve.

 

[gethinceri]

Or they were cars which needed a driver with an ability to develop them, which Alonso does not possess.

 

[Kewee]

gethinceri ..... You clearly don't rate Ron Dennis's opinions. Many may not like him but under his stewardship McLaren have had huge success. Despite his difficulties in managing drivers he is a very good judge of a drivers abilities.
Just in case you've failed to notice every team that has employed Alonso have considered his development skills to be second to none. The most recent to praise him saying he has no weaknesses is Andrea Stella who is moving with Alonso from Ferrari to McLaren.

 

[The Pits]

No Kewee, the most recent to praise him was you.

 

[Kewee]

No The Pits, I'm just quoting people that know a hell of a lot more than me, or anyone else on any forum you choose to read.

 

[gethinceri]

No Kewee, I merely posited the opposing view to the one which you shared, I do rate his opinion and I do like him. I've been a McLaren fan since the 70s, but I went off Alonso after Piquet's "accident".
Your inference is misplaced.

 

[FB]

Errm KMag (as he must be called) thread. Not sure how we have got on to Alonso, although I have a bit of a suspicion as to how it might have happened...

 

[Kewee]

Fair enough gethinceri and my apologies. As far as the Piquet incident goes and considering the depth of the FIA investigation into the Singapore GP I'm happy to believe Alonso had no knowledge of the planned "accident". The one thing I do know is Alonso was not at the circuit when the plan was hatched so to speak. The meeting involved Britiore, Piquet and another unnamed member of the Renault team who had no loyalty to Alonso and was leaned on fairly heavily by the FIA to see if Alonso was implicated. This was a legal hearing in Paris that Alonso was summoned to appear at and he was cleared of any involvement. Any belief in his guilt is based purely on suspicion but has no foundation otherwise the FIA would have taken action.

 

[Kewee]

Sorry FB I contributed by responding to a comment in the Galahad thread.

 

[FB]

One last time, this is the Kevin Magnussesn thread - any further off topic postings will be deleted. There are numerous places elsewhere that these matters can be discussed.

 

[gethinceri]

So I guess it's "what next for Kevin?"
What concerns me is that a season as test/reserve driver doesn't give him much time in the car so should McLaren get him into another series or will he actually get the exposure that will get him into a seat in 2016?

 

[F1Yorkshire]

His best chance would be a McLaren 'B' team.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Clearly the sudden availability of Alonso put the cat among the birdies for KMag but it says little for the faith the team showed in their new boy by having only a one year deal. In a roundabout way that saved Button for another year.

Does it highlight a shortage of top top talent among young drivers that so few are being signed on decent deals first time out?