Life is a bizarre factor. You set objectives. You’re employed. You intend. However one thing utterly random can change its course so dramatically that you just simply know: if that one thing hadn’t occurred, it might all be totally different. An airline algorithm may put you within the seat subsequent to your future enterprise associate. You could possibly step on somebody’s shoe in a bar, strike up a friendship and – bam – earlier than you realize it, you are working as a lifeguard in Australia.
Or a Danish millionaire may like your handshake and – bam – 5 years later, you are an F1 driver.
You’d assume Kevin Magnussen’s path was set. There was no approach the son of Denmark’s greatest motorsport star may escape being a racer, proper? However when he switched from go-karts to vehicles, his father Jan ran out of cash to finance his profession – and it was rescued by a fellow known as Karsten Ree, one among Denmark’s richest males, who occurred to sponsor Magnussen Sr.’s crew within the nation’s touring automobile championship.
“I do know for a indisputable fact that I gave him a superb handshake after I met him,” laughs Kevin as we sit down with him exterior the Haas hospitality space forward of his ultimate race in F1 to look again on his profession. “I shook his hand, regarded him within the eye and apparently introduced myself in a great way! He informed my dad about it later. You realize, ‘This child’s bought one thing’. And he was like, ‘Ah! I need to assist him’.
“When it comes to outcomes, there wasn’t a lot benefit. I would carried out nicely in karting, I would received the Danish Components Ford. However you realize, it wasn’t sufficient for him to go in and put all the cash in. And I believed I am glad I gave him that good a handshake!
“Then one other investor got here in – and that was within the British Components 3 season. The primary couple of races did not go so nicely, however he had made this massive dedication and he wished to see outcomes. So he known as me into his workplace and stated, ‘Look, I must see one thing’. And I simply bought – I do not know – actually irritated. I stated ‘OK, you realize what, come to the subsequent race and I am going to win two races’. So cocky! And after I left I used to be like, ‘Shit! Fuck, man. What did I simply say to that man…’ – due to course he stated, ‘Yeah. Good. I am going to come. I am going to go see it.’
“And he went there. And I received two races! And, you realize, had I not received these two races, I’ve a sense he won’t have been so smitten by this mission!”
Carlin’s Kevin Magnussen successful at Snetterton in British F3
There’s a parallel universe wherein Kevin Magnussen, the son of a former McLaren and Stewart F1 driver, is a welder within the small city of Roskilde. When his dad may now not afford to pay for Kev’s racing, his uncle bought him a job at an area manufacturing unit “since you by no means know the way this motorsport factor goes to end up” – and he spent three months there welding issues collectively.
“The factor is, it is not even a parallel universe,” he grins. “It is this universe. You realize, I used to be in a workshop with instruments in my hand, working as a welder. I had that. Not for very lengthy, thank God, however that actuality isn’t very removed from me. And it is sort of, in a approach, a part of my identification. A giant a part of me feels misplaced right here. I am a Components 1 driver? Lots of people know who I’m? It nonetheless feels… not actual.”
He is carried out nicely. Ten years within the sport, 185 races, greater than 200 factors, a pole and a podium. It’s a profession that many can be jealous of. However is there something that would dramatically change its course and make the statistics look extra spectacular?
Take Lewis Hamilton, for instance. It does not take a lot creativeness to see him as an eight-time world champion – that is straightforward. However what if, within the closing laps of the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, the rain had slowed simply sufficient for Timo Glock to search out sufficient grip to speed up out of the ultimate nook of the championship? Had Hamilton not received his first title then, would he have moved to Mercedes? There’s arguably a parallel universe the place Lewis is not a champion in any respect. However is there one the place Kevin Magnussen is?
“Properly, you realize, I got here into F1 with a crew that, on the time, you’d assume I used to be simply copying Lewis,” he says. “Even after the primary race of the season I believed, ‘Yeah, I am following Lewis right here’. Once I left Australia, I regarded on the drivers’ standings on the airplane, only for enjoyable. Clearly it was only one race. However I used to be P2 within the championship and I believed, ‘OK, the struggle is on, within the first 12 months’. I actually thought that.
Kevin Magnussen racing to second place for McLaren within the 2014 Australian Grand Prix
Picture by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Pictures
“Nevertheless it turned out to be an outlier race by way of efficiency, and the remainder of the season, and the various, a few years after that… it took McLaren ten years to get again to the shape that they had in 2012. And I hit it proper originally of that downward pattern. And if I had come two or three years earlier, it might have been a special story.
“I believe I used to be additionally unfortunate to lose my seat on the finish of that 12 months. You realize, I had been faster than Jenson [Button], on tempo. He’d outscored me by far within the races. Nevertheless it was fairly clear what I needed to change. I simply needed to end the races, you realize, simply relax a bit. It was not like I wanted to do issues higher. I wanted to carry again just a little – after which I believe it might have been a very totally different efficiency by way of consistency and so forth.
“I believe I used to be unfortunate to lose that seat that 12 months, and that sort of modified my trajectory and my profession loop.”
After the McLaren board determined Button can be the one to associate Fernando Alonso into a brand new and – because it regarded on the time – thrilling period with Honda, Magnussen was despatched to take a seat on a substitute bench. He moved again to Denmark and spent a 12 months travelling to races with McLaren as a reserve driver, all whereas battling melancholy and desperately wanting to come back again. He finally did with Renault – however the momentum was misplaced.
“I nonetheless believed in it,” he says, when requested if the considered successful the world championship had gone out of his head by then. “What I wished to do was present that I used to be ok to go along with an enormous crew. And I believe Haas was an excellent place to do this. I ended up coming again to F1 with Renault, however just for one 12 months – and that was poisonous. I may have continued. Despite the fact that they denied providing me a contract – I can present you the contract they supplied me. However the entire thing was poisonous there, so I used to be glad to get the possibility to go to Haas and discover that stability and that assist.
Kevin Magnussen on the grid for Renault
Picture by: Mark Sutton
“It was my third 12 months in F1. I used to be 24 or one thing… 23? You realize, something was nonetheless doable. I nonetheless believed it was doable. And there have been moments after I felt it was moving into that path.
“In 2018, we had a very good automobile within the first half of the 12 months. Charles [Leclerc] had simply arrived in F1 with Sauber. And he… the beginning of his first season wasn’t nice. And mine was actually good! After which all of the sudden Ferrari was reaching out. You realize, all of the sudden I used to be driving of their simulator, not for Haas, however for Ferrari. They have been sniffing round. And I believed, okay… I used to be already getting enthusiastic about the place this was going.
“However then Charles began to essentially kill it! And I heard nothing.
“I do not know the way shut it bought. However I believe if Charles had not began to carry out, if he had had a shitty season all 12 months lengthy, I believe I’d have been one of many drivers they’d have checked out. Typically you’re feeling like you might be getting shut, however nonetheless not that shut. That is the best way it goes.
“And after that season, Daniel [Ricciardo] left Pink Bull, and I keep in mind my administration talking to Christian Horner, due to course everybody was speaking in regards to the Pink Bull seat. And Christian stated, ‘Look, there’s nothing at Pink Bull, however we will discuss Toro Rosso’. And I stated, ‘No, no, let’s not do this,’ which I most likely ought to have carried out.
“It was Gasly who took that [Red Bull] seat. [Alex] Albon was promoted from F2 to Toro Rosso, after which Gasly did not do a superb job – and Albon got here in! So, you realize, the man who bought that Toro Rosso seat ended up at Pink Bull.”
It will have been too straightforward – to not say unfair – to place all of it all the way down to luck and likelihood. You continue to must set objectives, plan and work exhausting. Does he really feel he is labored as exhausting as he ought to have? And does he consider he had the expertise to turn into a world champion?
“I may have carried out extra, for positive,” he admits. “You realize, I do not assume anybody can say ‘I could not have carried out extra’. I believe there’ll all the time be issues… There have been occasions after I did not work exhausting sufficient. However then there have been occasions after I labored my butt off. I do not actually have any regrets. I do not assume there’s something I may have carried out to vary the course of my profession. I actually doubt that.
Kevin Magnussen takes half in Haas’ household image on the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Picture by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Pictures
“And what’s sufficient expertise? I believe, you realize, I’d have cherished to have had extra – as a result of it might have made issues simpler! However I believe I had a reasonably good quantity of expertise. If something, I’d have preferred to have been extra within the expertise right here.
“That half does not actually curiosity me. I need to simply drive. And I believe all these methods and all this mapping stuff and all this theoretical set-up stuff faults me just a little bit. I am not a automobile man! More often than not at dwelling I drive my spouse’s Volvo as a result of it is extra comfy than my very own automobile. I respect simply driving and competing. But when I had an even bigger pure curiosity within the expertise facet, it might have most likely benefited me.”
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Maybe he may have carried out higher with the media. You’d most likely blame him for having one of many lowest variety of Instagram followers on the grid, regardless of spending ten years within the sport. You’d most likely argue that he may not less than attempt to work on his picture. However whereas different drivers use nearly each arrival within the paddock as a red-carpet alternative, Kev all the time walks by means of the gates carrying denims, sneakers and a crew T-shirt.
“I believe that is part of F1 that I do not actually determine with,” says former welder Magnussen. “Like… being the influencer is one thing I do not relate to. Under no circumstances.
“I am a driver. I drive the automobile. I’d really feel very misplaced strolling in with a Prada, you realize, no matter – all these style manufacturers… In the event that they’d paid me some huge cash, okay, perhaps I’d put on it! However I’d nonetheless really feel very unusual. I imply, there is a industrial facet to F1 that I’ve discovered to navigate. Clearly, there’s some huge cash in sponsorship and industrial offers. However what I’ve type of discovered is that these high-end style manufacturers do not need to pay anyway as a result of they’re so massive. So that you higher go along with an IT firm.
“What’s all of it for? Constructing an enormous model, turning into a style icon and all that… I believe some individuals are simply pleasing their egos. If you concentrate on it… we’re simply racing vehicles, you realize? The actually necessary issues in life are usually not taking place right here.
Kevin Magnussen throughout the drivers’ parade on the 2024 Italian Grand Prix
Picture by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Pictures
“However I believe it is one thing that is constructed into us from a younger age, in all these drivers, that that is who we’re. It is our identification. It pleases our egos – to be quick. We really feel good once we’re fast, faster than different guys. It is a bizarre factor, proper, if you concentrate on it! Being quicker than another person, making him really feel shit… That may be a fucking good feeling! And I do not know what it’s. It is a bizarre factor. But when you concentrate on what we really do right here, it turns into a bit trivial.”
However F1, with all its pretentious grandiosity and over-inflated egos, has given Kevin Magnussen all the pieces he has now.
“It has given me the chance to dwell a privileged life,” he says. “At first, I have a look at it from the angle that I am a dad now. I present for my household and I can do this by driving a automobile and nonetheless take pleasure in life.
“That may be a enormous privilege that not many individuals have. I can spend on a regular basis I need with my youngsters. And we nonetheless have meals on the desk. You realize, that is a very powerful factor I take away from this profession. That is what I am most grateful for.”
Life is a very unusual factor. You possibly can lose your dream job, get depressed, burn by means of all of your money, transfer again to your hometown of fifty,000 together with your tail between your legs – and meet the love of your life and the long run mom of your kids.
“She was working as a waitress in a restaurant and I simply began flirting together with her within the restaurant,” Kevin tells of how he met Louise. “I had simply misplaced my seat at McLaren and we met at a time after I was fairly depressed. She was learning – she’s a trainer and she or he was learning for that – and I used to be dwelling in her little residence. Mainly she sorted me, not the opposite approach round.
“I ran out of cash utterly. I paid an enormous a part of what I earned to my investor. And I used to be younger and dumb, so I spent the remainder. I spent each penny I earned that 12 months. So a number of months into the next 12 months, I merely ran out of cash. I had no revenue. The financial institution had blocked all my bank cards. So after I bought a suggestion from Toto [Wolff] to do a DTM shootout check with Mercedes, I could not even purchase an EasyJet ticket. She paid for it. And I borrowed her bank card to go to that check and purchase meals and petrol for the rental automobile.
“She’s actually been wonderful.”
Kevin Magnussen, Haas F1 Group, his spouse Louise Gjørup and their youngster
Picture by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Pictures
He is not ending his profession with a world championship. He hasn’t even received a race. And his solely podium remains to be the one he bought in Australia in 2014. However he’ll let you know that he is bought one thing greater out of his time in F1.
“I believe it is one thing that is solely got here within the final couple of years,” he says. “Whereas previously, I believe I used to be very determined simply to be in F1 and to attain my objectives in F1. I believed… I actually thought that happiness in life trusted that, you realize? And it has been an excellent aid to come back out of that bubble and realise that it does not rely on that in any respect. You realize, it is a good factor to have, but it surely’s not a should.
“I imply, I have a look at it from two angles. In a approach, I did not obtain my objective. And I am really, you realize… it is annoying! It is sort of annoying. And it’ll all the time be annoying! Nevertheless it’s fantastic, you realize. I have a look at what I bought out of it and it is actually exhausting to really feel any type of unhealthy feelings. Once I look again on it from that angle, it is like… ‘Hell, sure!'”
On this article
Oleg Karpov
Components 1
McLaren
Renault F1 Group
Haas F1 Group
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