Haas has announced it will part ways with its longest-serving driver, Kevin Magnussen, at the end of this season.
With Nico Hulkenberg already due to leave the team and join Sauber next year, the news means Haas will have an all-new driver line-up for 2025. It has previously announced Ferrari Driver Academy member Oliver Bearman as one half of its line-up.Magnussen has driven for Haas in seven of the last eight seasons. He was previously dropped at the end of his first, four-year stint when the team opted to bring in two rookie drivers, and the sponsorship they attracted for 2021, having run into financial trouble the year before.
However Magnussen made a surprise return to the team in 2022 as a replacement for one of those drivers, Nikita Mazepin, who was dropped as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which led the team to cancel its sponsorship deal with his father’s company. Magnussen starred in his first race back for the team, claiming a valuable fifth place in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
He has fared less well against Hulkenberg over the last two seasons. However team principal Ayao Komatsu, who replaced Guenther Steiner at the beginning of the year, expressed his gratitude for Magnussen’s service.
“I’d like to thank Kevin for everything he’s given us as a team, both on and off the track,” said Komatsu. “He’s truly been a bedrock of our driver line-up over the years.
“Nobody’s driven more races for us and we’ve had some memorable highlights together – not least a remarkable fifth place finish at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2022 when Kevin returned to start his second spell with the team. He wasn’t expecting to be driving a Formula 1 car that weekend, but he put in a remarkable performance that was a tremendous boost to the entire organisation and once again showcased his own talents behind the wheel.”
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While Magnussen is yet to confirm his future plans, Komatsu hopes to persuade him to continue working with them. “With Kevin’s special relationship with the team, I’m hoping we can find a way to keep working together in some capacity. We can hopefully define that in the near future, but his extensive experience in Formula 1 and knowledge of our working operations are undoubtedly of value in our ongoing growth and development.”
Magnussen said he is “proud to have raced for such a great team of people these last few years.”
“In particular I’d like to thank Gene Haas for his commitment to me, notably in bringing me back once again in 2022 when I thought, at that time at least, my time in Formula 1 had ended.”
Magnussen is the third driver in this year’s field to find himself without a drive for next year, joining Carlos Sainz Jnr and Esteban Ocon. The latter has been tipped as a target for Haas, but the team is not expected to confirm the identity of Bearman’s team mate imminently.
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Terrion (@terrion)
18th July 2024, 9:03
What a shame. While not faster than Hulkenberg, he was probably the best team mate in the current field. If Haas really chose Ocon over him, they’ll get a driver of similiar speed but a way worse team player…
PacificPR (@streydt)
18th July 2024, 9:34
Indeed. Ocon won’t be anything close to a mentor for Bearman – Magnussen would be a much better choice or maybe Bottas.
Morrow (@)
18th July 2024, 9:48
ya, that’s the heart of it isn’t it? so- still him, Carlos and Valtterri vying for Williams Merc and Alpine seats ?
dot_com (@dot_com)
18th July 2024, 14:39
Plus the other Sauber/Audi seat.
Frank
18th July 2024, 13:50
After dominating Mick Schumacher, I did not expect Magnussen to be so badly bloodied by Hulkenberg.
I would say that Hulk now and Magnussen then were proof that a driver can make a substantial difference – especially among those backmarkers and lower midfielders.
It might be sad for Magnussen, but if you want to show any ambition as a team – which everybody is urging Haas to do – you simply cannot start the season with a driver that is definitely slower than your current ace.
They have to bet that other experienced drivers on the market are as fast as Hulkenberg.
montreal95 (@montreal95)
18th July 2024, 20:33
I dispute “similar speed”. Ocon is evidently faster than KMag. He’s not a great team player for sure, but with the Hulk gone Haas need a team leader alongside a rookie not someone to play a good number 2.
Todfod (@todfod)
18th July 2024, 20:39
Ocon is probably at his peak right now, and even then I would rate him lower than an aging Hulkenberg. If Ocon is the best Haas can manage, it is quite a sad state of affairs for them next season.
A rookie with a team mate that refuses to help him.
montreal95 (@montreal95)
19th July 2024, 1:14
@todfod They’re Haas, their options are limited. They’re not gonna get Sainz are they? So who’s that experienced option on the grid that’s both better than Ocon and available?
Jere (@jerejj)
18th July 2024, 9:08
Something I saw coming for a little while with his time as an F1 driver will most likely end for good, & I see even the thing about a different capacity role with the team unlikely.
Instead, he’ll likely still keep racing actively by switching to another category just like when he got sacked by the team for the first time after the 2020 season.
Again, Ocon is not only his most likely direct replacement but effectively all but confirmed, with the formal announcement likely due over the next couple of weeks, if not yet, on this Hungarian GP weekend.
Only a matter of time anyway.
Simon
18th July 2024, 16:56
“As expected”, no?
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
18th July 2024, 9:36
The question is how he will approach racing now that he has nothing left to lose. I hope I’m wrong, but his stubbornness could lead to disaster. It would have been better for Haas to drop him immediately and give Olie more time in the car, allowing him to better adapt for next year.
Deerhunter
18th July 2024, 9:54
I see the opposite, actually.
Now that he’s no longer driving for his career, I don’t see why Magnussen would bend over backwards trying to accommodate the team and Hulkenberg by slowing everybody else down. He knows he’s not going to land another full-time seat, so pretty sure the desperation is uncalled for
Coventry Climax
18th July 2024, 12:40
But if there’s indeed discussions about a job for him still at Haas, then he is still racing for his career.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
18th July 2024, 13:20
He just made a statement and confirmed that nothing will change with regard to his approach to racing.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
18th July 2024, 9:54
@tifoso1989
Or perhaps he has been made aware of that possibility in the event he either fails to perform, or does not pull for the team.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
18th July 2024, 10:51
If the rumours are correct and HAAS are going to put Ocon in that seat, then I think that they have made a mistake.
Ocon has proven that he is unpleasant to work with and only cares about himself.
HAAS will be swapping a true team player for an ego-maniac.
Bearman could be in for a terrible introduction to the world of F1.
baasbas
18th July 2024, 11:52
@nullapax
Fully agree, no mentor for Bearman but the opposite
SteveP
18th July 2024, 13:58
With the current Alpine pair, they really are a pair. Differences in character/behaviour are minimal, although I’m less inclined toward Gasly’s character
Peter707
18th July 2024, 10:55
I’m not surprised. Slow pace and recurrent silly mistakes, despite many years of experience, that’s KMag in a nutshell.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
18th July 2024, 10:56
I’m not sure I’d trade a Magnussen for an Ocon, and this is coming from someone that doesn’t like Kevin at all. I’d rather bid for continuity while training Bearman.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th July 2024, 11:46
Yes, ocon is probably not much of an upgrade and like others said, ocon isn’t necessarily a good team player, shame cause magnussen had the occasional good race, really liked his performance with the full wet tyres in canada, better than hulkenberg that time, but overall not as good as him.
In any case, he wasn’t ever likely going to get a car to experience the feeling of winning, as he also mentioned early on this year, so fighting around the midfield for years on end takes its toll in the end, now if he tries other racing series he will experience winning again.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th July 2024, 11:47
Would’ve deleted ocon the second time I wrote it if possible, cause I added it early on.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
18th July 2024, 13:35
A bit like the decisions around Red Bull keeping Checo seemingly indefinitely, I imagine there are many conversations and monetary figures being traded by parties that we’re not privy to that collectively make swapping Kmag for Ocon make sense. If it was simply a sporting decision, I doubt many would think Esteban is an upgrade.
Edvaldo
18th July 2024, 14:35
To be real, he shouldn’t even be there for a good while.
They called him back due to the Mazepin situation only because he knew the team and was available. And it seems they forgot that and kept him for far longer than that situation required. They should have replaced him for 2023 already.
I guess they stuck with him and Grosjean for so long, then replaced them with 2 rookies that knew nothing about the drill, that it required Hulkenberg to come and show them how they were badly served with their drivers for basically their whole existence.
F1racefan
18th July 2024, 18:37
Being a father myself, it is sad to see Magnussen step out. And Perez being so pressed to step out as well. I don’t know if there is an statistic for that, but I tend to think that F1 will not have any driver that is a father very shortly. I admire these drivers that do whatever they need to for that purpose.
anon
18th July 2024, 20:51
F1racefan, you seem to have forgotten about Hulkenberg.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
18th July 2024, 19:29
An “all new” line up is slightly misleading. It implies they are only going to be having rookies.
Robert
18th July 2024, 19:53
No it doesn’t. It just implies that Haas will have a line up of drivers who hasn’t driven for them before.