Magnussen: “I am putting my money on a podium for Haas this season”

After a year spent outside of Formula 1, notably racing in Endurance, Kevin Magnussen made a surprising comeback with Haas, the team that had let him go at the end of 2020. The Danish driver had a very convincing start of the season by securing a magnificent fifth place in the very first race in Bahrain. Invited by the Beyond The Grid podcast, K-Mag discussed the reasons behind his return and the discussions he had, particularly with Günther Steiner.

He explained to me a little bit how much work and effort had been put into the car, but he hadn’t said it would be this good. I think they’ve made a big effort, after sacrificing almost two years to be able to fully focus on this car. I know what the team can achieve when they do things right, revealed Kevin Magnussen.

The Danish driver has already scored 12 points by entering the points in the first two races, which is four times as many as Haas in the last two seasons (3 points in 2020, 0 in 2021). Armed with a finally competitive car, Magnussen is starting to believe in a podium finish, he who has only been on the podium once. A performance that dates back to the 2014 Australian Grand Prix where the Danish driver was competing in … his first F1 race.

« It’s a dream. I think about it a lot. We are in the fight to be the best team behind the top three. If you are seventh on the grid, you only need a bit of luck to end up on the podium. Last year we saw many teams on the podium even though they didn’t necessarily have the car to do it in terms of pure speed. It’s not so unrealistic to dream about it, and I bet my money that we will succeed in getting on the podium! », assures Kevin Magnussen, being realistic about the fact that Haas can’t achieve it without benefiting from some strokes of luck.

He will be able to discuss this kind of dream with Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, who nobody imagined would win their first Grand Prix before the start of the race.