Magnussen energized by unexpected return to Formula 1

Kevin Magnussen was about to leave for a family vacation in Miami before the 12 Hours of Sebring when the phone rang. It was his former boss, who wondered if Magnussen wanted to return to his old seat in Formula 1.

Of course he did, he told Haas F1 director Guenther Steiner.

“He called me and I said ‘Yes’ immediately, straight away it was yes,” Magnussen said Thursday from Bahrain in a video conference call with reporters.

“And then, you know, those obstacles became pretty clear. I have contracts with other teams. And all these thoughts, ‘Do I need this?’ But I got that first initial feeling I had when Guenther called that was so telling.

And so the 29-year-old began the series of appeals to get rid of his existing contracts so he could return to the American Haas F1 team as a replacement for dismissed Russian driver Nikita Mazepin. Haas dropped Mazepin and its sponsor Uralkali, a Russian fertilizer company owned by Mazepin’s father. Dmitry Mazepin is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Team owner Gene Haas told The Associated Press he wanted an experienced driver to replace Mazepin, so the call went to Magnussen, who drove for Haas from 2017-2020.

Magnussen was due to race Sebring next week with Chip Ganassi Racing and is expected to be part of Peugeot’s commitment to the World Endurance Championship when the manufacturer finally begins competition. Magnussen was also planning to return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a teammate to his father, Jan, for a second consecutive year.

Instead, he’s in Bahrain preparing to test on Friday for the team that let him down at the end of the 2020 season.

Haas has opted to make 2021 a throwaway season in anticipation of this year’s new car and favorable updated rules and regulations. Haas sacked Magnussen and Romain Grosjean, replacing them with rookies Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin as Haas F1 became the worst team on the grid.

Magnussen and Grosjean both watched from the United States delighted to be away from the Haas mess in F1. Grosjean found a new life in IndyCar, while Magnussen drove IMSA sports cars for Ganassi, Le Mans with his father and made a start in IndyCar.

Magnussen said he was bored in his last years driving in F1 for a team unable to win races – Haas before he broke down was respectable but in the middle of the pack – and that he didn’t had no desire to go back to cars that couldn’t run for wins.

His tone had changed dramatically on Thursday, when reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi tested in the afternoon. Haas F1 missed morning session due to equipment freight delay; rival teams have denied Haas’ request for Sunday track time, and Haas is trying to secure extended evening sessions on Thursday and Friday.

“The reason why I lost my motivation at the end of 2020 was that we had been running pretty much at the back of the grid for two years and I wanted more,” Magnussen said. “I felt like I was getting better and better as a driver and the results weren’t really coming in. Even though it’s Formula 1, it gets too frustrating if you run from the back and you do not progress.

“For this year there’s a whole new set of regulations, a whole new set of cars on the grid for each team and hopefully it can be a bit of a fresh start and some surprises can happen.”

Magnussen said there was no discussion of using Haas as a mentor for teammate Schumacher, the son of seven-time champion Michael Schumacher. The 22-year-old German is a budding superstar who needs a veteran teammate. Mazepin was also a rookie last season, and aside from being teased as ‘Mazespin’, the Russian and Schumacher didn’t get along.

Mazepin noted that Schumacher did not contact him after he was fired last Saturday.

“I wasn’t asked to play a mentoring role at all,” Magnussen said. “I know I’m here to score points and have good races and help the team develop this car and take the team forward. That’s what I’m here to do and part of that is relationships with your teammates.

Magnussen had a particularly close relationship with Ganassi sports car teammate Renger van der Zande and their families spent a lot of time together away from the track, with the Dutchman congratulating Magnussen’s return to F1 as “we lost our baby- favorite sitter”. Magnussen said the relationship is not the same in F1.

“Formula 1 is different from other forms of motorsport, especially sports cars, where you really are a team with your teammates,” Magnussen said. “In Formula 1 you race against each other. I think it’s important to understand that you can benefit from each other, but also important to accept that at the end of the day you are also racing for the same points.

___

More AP Auto Racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports