Haas confirms Magnussen will partner Grosjean in 2017

2017 F1 season

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Kevin Magnussen will join Romain Grosjean at Haas in 2017, the team has confirmed.

Team founder Gene Haas said the Renault driver was “always on our short list” to join them.

“He’s accomplished a lot in a very short period of time, and we feel like he can accomplish a lot with us. Our second season will bring a new set of challenges, and we feel that pairing Kevin with Romain will help us develop our new car and continue our growth.”

List of 2017 F1 drivers and teams
Magnussen joins the team from Renault, who have appointed Nico Hulkenberg alongside current driver Jolyon Palmer for next year.

“This is a fantastic opportunity and I’m very happy to be a part of Haas F1 Team,” said Magnussen.

“Obviously, I’m confident in my abilities as a Formula One driver, but I’m also very confident of what Haas F1 Team can do in its second season and every season thereafter.”

“Gene Haas has come into Formula One with a strong vision and a different way of doing things. He’s making it work and work well. I’ve had a good vantage point all season long, and I’m looking forward to getting behind the wheel of next year’s Haas VF-17.”

Esteban Gutierrez revealed earlier today he will leave the team at the end of the year.

“I want to thank Esteban Gutierrez for all of his efforts,” said Haas. “He’s been an instrumental part of our first year in Formula One and we’re looking forward to finishing the season strong with him and Romain.”

See the updated list of 2017 F1 drivers and teams

2017 F1 season

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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30 comments on “Haas confirms Magnussen will partner Grosjean in 2017”

  1. This is a really strong pairing. Quite possibly the strongest pairing in the midfield next year as I expect McLaren to be towards the front, unless Ocon springs a surprise or Kvyat finds some miraculous change of form.

    1. A piece of eroitdiun unlike any other!

    2. wushu kid: Oh that’s interesting because my mom is like 1/4 hakka and the recipe is from her greatgrandma La Mein is way out of my league for now. I just don’t know how make them into separate noodles just like those sifu’s you see on tv.Thanks for dropping by btw

  2. Good line-up at Haas then. Magnussen’s a decent driver, I think Renault will miss him.

  3. Gutierrez had his second chance, Magnussen will surely prove more competitive. 3 seasons, 3 teams for him, very unusual nowadays.

    1. And driving 4 different motors..as the only one on the grid…experienced enough now everyone..

      1. Wow, that is an interesting stat! Although he didn’t race much with the Honda engine…

      2. Erm…not to downplay Magnussen’s experience, but hasn’t Alonso also raced Renault, Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda engines as well?

        1. What he means is the current hybrid engines @tim-m. Alonso hasn’t driven a Renault or a Mercedes hybrid engine and KMag is the only driver to have done so.

    2. Same three seasons/three teams start to his F1 journey as Hulkenberg. Even had a year out at the same point in their careers.

  4. A weak lineup in my opinion, two average drivers who are vastly overrated. Grosjean has only beaten Maldonado in F1 and has been drawing level with Gutierrez this year and was dominated by Kimi. His poor attitude and constant whining don’t make him much of a team player either. Magnussen was easily beaten by Button and has had a bad season with Renault, being outperformed by a rookie pay driver like Palmer in the second half of the year. Plus reports say they are strugging with development. I doubt their line up is better than Sauber’s or Renault’s for next year

    1. You’d expect that a rookies race craft isn’t as good as the most experienced driver on the grid as your teammate, but in qualifying and overall natural talent.. K-Mag got that tier class.

    2. @lolzerbob, I would say that the picture presented by the comparison between Grosjean and Kimi from their time together at Lotus is heavily skewed by the fact that Kimi expected to receive, and was given, preferential treatment by the team – how much of that dominance was therefore down to Kimi alone, and how much was down to him being given an advantage by the team, is open to question.

      There were multiple races throughout that two year stint where Kimi was either given upgrade packages ahead of Grosjean – in 2013, the team admitted that Grosjean was intentionally kept at least one bodywork revision behind Kimi for the opening flyaway races (ostensibly because they only produced one set of new parts and allocated all of them to Kimi) – or, in some instances, given bespoke parts that were only available to him (for example, the version of the E21 with modified front suspension to extend the wheelbase was developed for Kimi’s use).

      It was only towards the end of the 2013 season, when it became apparent Kimi was leaving, that the team stopped giving him such preferential treatment and switched their support to Grosjean – who suddenly became the much faster driver instead. To me, that suggests that the team was probably more influential than the driver in that situation.

      1. I’d add to what anon wrote that, despite his recklessness, Maldonado was truly fast. Even then, Grosjean was faster.
        Despite his complains, Romain is fast enough for Haas.

    3. @lolzerbob On the quality of Grosjean and Magnussen, I must disagree. Grosjean was perhaps not the best choice for the role of team leader at Haas (probably why Hulkenberg was Gene’s first choice), but he is immensely fast, and more than capable, as in Melbourne and Bahrain, of producing a stellar result. Indeed, when the stars align, as in Spa last year, he is capable of truly world class performances. This year his form has been blunted by procedural immaturities and general brake and balance malaise common with fledgling teams.

      I have always sensed a brighter star in Magnussen than that which is demonstrated by his results. I have a limited catalog of evidence to show for this beyond the fact that his debut test in an F1 car contributed to McLaren’s decision to oust Perez, a strong rookie season against a driver still capable of shadowing Fernando Alonso and the general atmosphere of fan consternation when it looked like he might be without a drive for a second consecutive season in 2016. My petrolhead gut likes Kevin for some inexplicable reason, and I am not alone in my fandom. I am not a fan however of this decision from Kevin, as I have explained below.

  5. Completely understandable even if he’s leaving a factory team who I expect to make a leap forward next year.
    Didn’t want to wait any longer and took his fate into his own hands after the McLaren debacle of 2014.

    Still part of me associates Haas as try-out to see if you’re good enough for a number 2 Ferrari spot.
    Grosjean didn’t impress enough except for the first 2 races and the Massa route with Gutierrez failed.

  6. A stronger test for Grosjean, hopefully he rises to the occasion and dispatches this new challenge in short order. I’m still hopeful he’d be given a shot in a Ferrari alongside Vettel should he continue to perform admirably.

  7. Yes, Renault only came knocking when it became clear that it couldn’t field Bottas or Ocon alongside Hulkenberg, and yes, the team were not prepared to offer him a multi-year deal, but mere snubs should never see a driver compromise his own career out of spite. Money will talk in 2017, as will an entire 2016 development cycle at Enstone geared towards the challenges of next year, so it is highly likely that Magnussen has opted for a less competitive package.

    Yes, Haas can offer Kevin more career stability, but Magnussen ought to relish the challenge of being partnered with Hulkenberg and proving that he is worthy of a more prolonged stint with the team, especially given that it is a team capable of climbing up the grid. I fear it is a decision indicative of a driver perhaps more content to make up the numbers, and quite the reverse of Hulkenberg’s gamble on the distance promise of Renault’s venture.

    1. Couldn’t agree more

  8. Good driver line up that. I still rate Magnussen, even if he’s had a difficult year. Clearly a better driver than Palmer, kinda disappointed he left Renault, him and Hulkenberg would make them my 2nd favourite team behind McLaren, but I understand why he did it after being offered a longer contract with Haas.

  9. I think Magnussen is a very good driver, he can win if he have the car. Perhaps not at the level of Hamilton and Vettel, but a good option for Hass.

    1. @jorge-lardone, just wondering – why do you constantly misspell Gene Haas’s name as “Hass”? I imagine that you’d be annoyed if somebody constantly misspelt your name as “Lardon”, for example – the fact that you have done it so consistently makes me wonder at this rate if it is deliberate.

      1. Four years later there is the banned former site member among us…

  10. Well it seems that K Mag found a place that wants him. Good to see he has 2 year deal too so he doesn’t need to wonder if he will lose his seat.

  11. Did Trump called Haas to remove his Mexican driver? No US money for Mexico was his promise.

    Just joking… i hope ;(

  12. One big thing has happened – without anyone taking notice:

    MAG is no longer a paydriver!

    For me thats a big difference… he is not depending on a sponsor! Which mean he is established in F1 on talent and is only 24 having a 2+1 contract!!!

    You can’t take that away from him…and maybe also a factor behind his choice…

    1. According to MAG himself, then this was exactly a major reason for his final choice. Renault had many complex constraints and PR duties listed in their contract terms, so MAG expressed he preferred to go to a team that valued his results on track by race driving and not based the contract terms on what he had to do at PR events.

  13. We must all remember that Kevin has insights to how the Renault organisation work and does not work. I sense they have large problems of internal politics and power struggles. Further they have struggled developing the Car over the season and the upgrades they brought did not deliver much. They are likely far away from being a top team and not a nice place to be as a driver – at least not for Kevin.
    Haas on the other hand seem to be a great team to be in. Therefore it is the right decision for Kevin and he gets a 2 year paid contract in a seat that was not offered to everyone – if he does not succeed he has had his time in F1 and can move on. If he does succeed he is Ferrari driver in 2019!

    1. James Allison, former Technical Director of Scuderia Ferrari, also declined the offer from Renault, quoting: “…concerns about Renault’s apparent lack of leadership behind the scenes”.

      Sergio Perez was also eager to join Renault, but he also pulled out quoting: “…backroom complications at Renault”. Perez then re-signed with Force India for 2017.

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