Getting into Formula 1 is very difficult. Huge talent is needed, often accompanied by financial efforts on the part of the companies sponsoring the pilot. But re -entering , after having left, is something even more difficult.
However, it is something that several drivers have been able to do in the recent history of the championship. Romain Grosjean or Kimi Raikkonen did it last decade, and already in recent campaigns we find Robert Kubica and Kevin Magnussen.
The Dane has made a very good impression in the first half of the 2022 season. Magnussen has put in several top performances, scoring points in five races, helped by a surprisingly competitive Haas VF-22.
“I still have to pinch myself,” Magnussen said in an interview with Motorsport.com. “Being a Formula 1 driver is a very big thing. It’s one of those things that I started to realize last year, when I was no longer part of it.
“When you see it from the outside you realize how many people follow F1, how many people talk about it in their homes during race weekends. I started to give importance to that aspect and I realized how good it was to be in it.
“Then when I got back on the track I appreciated it a lot more. Now I pay attention to how many spectators there are and how big it is.”
Magnussen admitted that the introduction of the new technical regulations had encouraged him to participate, as all the teams had to start from scratch. This measure has shuffled the cards and has managed to change the balance of power, helping the American team to recover a lot of ground with respect to its main rivals.
“If a new technical regulation hadn’t come into force, if Haas had continued where it was last year or if there were expectations to continue with the 2021 regulations for more years, I would surely have hesitated,” he says.
“But in the end I saw it as an opportunity. There were no guarantees. [Steiner] Guenther didn’t promise me anything. But he explained to me what they had done and how they had concentrated in the last two years.”
“When I got here, in 2020, it was already clear that this would be the plan. So I got excited and thought: ‘yeah, this could be a good thing.'”
To accept his current position with the Haas team, Magnussen had to terminate his contracts with Peugeot, Cadillac and Chip Ganassi Racing and, in all likelihood, lose the opportunity to continue racing regularly.
The chances of winning Formula 1, a success that eluded him with McLaren in 2014, remain slim with Haas, but Magnussen has no regrets.
“I have said many times that last year was one of the best of my life. I am excited to be fighting for pole position and victory every weekend. But there is only one Formula 1. Nothing is like Formula 1.”
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