Oliver Bearman will race for Haas in the Sprint at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, in place of Kevin Magnussen. Haas has announced that Magnussen is sick and will not be able to drive on Friday, leading to a substitute call-up for reserve driver Bearman. …
Oliver Bearman will race for Haas in the Sprint at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, in place of Kevin Magnussen.
Haas has announced that Magnussen is sick and will not be able to drive on Friday, leading to a substitute call-up for reserve driver Bearman. With only one free practice session ahead of competitive running on Friday, Bearman will take part in FP1 and Sprint qualifying, with the latter session also mandating he must race in Saturday’s Sprint.
“MoneyGram Haas F1 Team driver Kevin Magnussen will not participate in Friday’s track running at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix after suffering with sickness,” a team statement read. “Official reserve driver Oliver Bearman will take over driving duties. The team wishes Kevin a quick recovery and will provide a further update in due course.”
While Bearman will race in the Sprint due to qualifying the car on Friday afternoon, Magnussen is able to attempt to return on Saturday if he feels well enough to complete qualifying for the grand prix itself. If he qualifies the car, he will be permitted to start the race, but if Magnussen is not able to drive in qualifying then he cannot take part in Sunday’s grand prix.
Fernando Alonso was also suffering from an intestinal infection following last week’s race in Mexico City but is set to take part in FP1 for Aston Martin.
Kevin Magnussen’s drive to seventh place in the Mexico City Grand Prix was the best performance he has produced for Haas, according to team principal Ayao Komatsu. Haas entered Sunday’s race off the back of scoring in five straight events, including …
Kevin Magnussen’s drive to seventh place in the Mexico City Grand Prix was the best performance he has produced for Haas, according to team principal Ayao Komatsu.
Haas entered Sunday’s race off the back of scoring in five straight events, including the Sprint in Austin, and lined up with Magnussen seventh on the grid and Nico Hulkenberg 10th. Magnussen did not lose a position in the race and kept a fast-charging Oscar Piastri at bay in the closing laps, ending up just four seconds behind sixth-placed Max Verstappen.
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“Singapore, I expected him to be strong and we didn’t quite get there, but then in Austin he was so strong,” Komatsu told SiriusXM. “He was strong in the Sprint, he was strong in the race, but we didn’t operate correctly as a race team in the race so he should have scored points in the main race as well.
“Here (in Mexico), from FP1, he was strong. And it’s very difficult to put a lap together here in qualifying, but when it counted, when the pressure was on in Q3, his lap was amazing.
“Then to deliver this race performance, I think this is the best race performance I’ve seen from Kev. Especially in that second stint, once Piastri was behind us, his pace was incredible. He was quicker than Max!
“We are looking at [the gap to Verstappen]. Of course we are completely focused on beating Piastri, you don’t get too greedy, but it just doesn’t take away from the fact that it was just amazing. In Sector 1 I remember watching sometimes Kevin was taking three tenths out of Max, but we were constantly telling him the gap to Piastri because we knew Piastri had something in reserve, which he did.
“A couple of laps from the end he closed at a second a lap, but it was just an incredible drive, such consistency. I think every single lap was like qualifying. It was amazing.”
Magnussen himself said he was proud to be able to capitalize on Haas’s improving form Haas is showing, and with to be able to respond to missing out on points in the main race at COTA.
“Only just!” Magnussen said of beating Piastri. “It was very tight and I knew when he was sort of [going to arrive] – with 20 laps to go I could do the math and say ‘OK, it’s going to be a tough one’. But the tires just lasted really well, so his tires went off more than mine. He was still quicker than me at the end, but he just stopped catching up that fast, so we just about managed to keep him at bay.
“I think it’s nice to get the maximum out of this weekend while we had the strength and real competitiveness – it’s good to capitalize on that. We didn’t feel like we did that last week, we scored points in the Sprint but completely made a blunder in the race, so really good to come back from that.
“I’m very proud. It’s been some turnaround for this team, I think there’s a bright future ahead for Haas.”
Kevin Magnussen says it’s funny that he is now free to race even more aggressively than in the past at the Singapore Grand Prix, having served a one-race ban last weekend. Oliver Bearman replaced Magnussen at Haas in Baku because the Dane had …
Kevin Magnussen says it’s funny that he is now free to race even more aggressively than in the past at the Singapore Grand Prix, having served a one-race ban last weekend.
Oliver Bearman replaced Magnussen at Haas in Baku because the Dane had accumulated 12 penalty points within a 12-month period, leading to an automatic race suspension. The final two points were earned by light contact when trying to overtake Pierre Gasly in Monza, but with just seven rounds remaining and a clean license after the ban, Magnussen says he won’t change his approach.
“You get punished, and then you come back, and you’re like all ready to f**k s**t up now!” Magnussen said. “It’s funny how that works.
“In a way, it hasn’t really affected me. I think with those points, it was annoying to have the knowledge that the next time anything happens, there’s a race ban. It’s nice to know that’s not a factor anymore. But I actually don’t think it has affected me in how I’ve driven. I’ve really tried to say, ‘Look, I need to crack on here, and whatever happens, happens.’
“I don’t think it’s going to change anything. In that moment in Monza, in all the battles I’ve had, I’ve never found myself thinking, ‘Oh, I need to be careful here, otherwise I get a race ban.’ In those races before Baku, before the race ban, I didn’t think about it.”
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Magnussen was also critical of the way the penalty points system punishes drivers who might make mistakes when they attempt to fight on track, as he feels it will discourage hard racing.
“My own opinion is it’s not a great situation for F1, I think, to restrict racing in that way. It feels bad when the sport you love so much changes in a way you don’t appreciate,” he said. “I like hard racing, and I think that’s a big part of the beauty of motorsport, is the battles. The on-the-limit-and-slightly-over, that balance between going slightly over and under the limit is what makes your race.
“At the moment, it feels like they’re punishing ridiculous things. Personally as a Formula 1 fan, I’d like to see the sport open up again and allowing the great racing that can be seen on-track.
“The penalty points thing is… a slightly strange one. Maybe it would be better to kind of give race bans for extraordinarily dangerous driving, or for a specific incident, and not like accumulate. Because it can get into situations where you get punished harder than others because, like in my case, I came into the season with zero points, accumulated all of them, and then I knew the rest of the season that none of these points were running out.
“I actually got punished harder because of not having had any points last year. So in a way, I should have got some points last year!
“But I just think it’s a very complex thing. So for me to sit here and say, ‘We should do this, this and this, and that would be the right way forward,’ is very difficult. I’ve raced in IndyCar, I’ve watched the races on television, and I think they have it going over there. They have fantastic racing. The drivers are respectful to each other. They’re left with that responsibility in their hands, and I think that works.
“It has to be tough, and these cars are put on-track with the knowledge that they might get damaged, and if they do, the driver that damages the car, he gets penalized naturally.
“I think the only thing that is different in Formula 1 to IndyCar are the tracks. The tracks are not great for racing, with all this track limits stuff — I got all my penalty points pretty much for track limits. At the end of the day, I think that’s kind of stupid, to be a few centimeters out of a white line and end up with a race ban because of that, it’s not the sport I love.”
Multiple Formula 1 drivers have said they expect the series’ penalty points system to be reviewed as a result of Kevin Magnussen’s one-race ban at this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Magnussen picked up the final two penalty points that triggered …
Multiple Formula 1 drivers have said they expect the series’ penalty points system to be reviewed as a result of Kevin Magnussen’s one-race ban at this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Magnussen picked up the final two penalty points that triggered the ban for causing a collision with Pierre Gasly in Monza, with light contact between the pair resulting in both drivers run off at the second chicane and continue in the order they arrived. Magnussen had been attempting to overtake but was penalized after reaching 12 penalty points within the past 12 months, and his teammate Nico Hulkenberg believes such a ban risks harming the quality of racing overall.
“I didn’t see two penalty points in that, and a 10-second penalty is very harsh in my opinion, and most drivers feel the same way about that,” Hulkenberg said. “I had a case with Fernando [Alonso] in the Austria Sprint race where I tried to make a move into Turn 3, locked up, went wide and he had to go off the track, but that is racing.
“To overtake, we have to leave our comfort zone, and take some risks and then this kind of thing happens sometimes. In my case with Fernando, and also with [Magnussen and] Pierre, both drivers said: ‘It’s nothing’ so it seems that whenever there is a little bit of contact, the stewards want to get involved, they want to have a consequence for it.
“The drivers feel that it isn’t really necessary for every contact so maybe the penalty guidelines need to be reviewed and changed because we need to be able to race and it is just difficult otherwise.
“It will be boring and dull as we can’t race anymore — we’ll just get penalized all the time. But I am sure it will come up in the drivers’ meeting, and there will be talks with [race director] Niels Wittich.”
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Hulkenberg’s point of view was largely shared by Alex Albon, although the Williams driver felt Magnussen had exploited the rules at earlier points in the season and was deserving of some stronger punishments on other occasions.
“I don’t think anyone’s a real fan of it,” Albon said. “Punishment in the race itself should be what’s done. If I look back at the incidents which Kevin created in a couple of races, those races he should have been penalized much more than he was. That set a precedent and he kept repeating them. It’s got a little bit messy.
“There’s been a couple that have been dangerous, but some of them have not been. So it seems a little bit odd. It even seems odd that it resets straight after your one-race ban and then you are on a clean slate again. So I don’t quite understand it.
“We have spoken about it in drivers’ briefings. Everyone’s under an understanding that we’ve just got to shuffle the system around a little bit. It needs to be a little more forgiving around what constitutes penalty points. If it’s done right it can be OK to have. I think the whole system is going to get reworded. Some of it will be addressed for next year.”
Yuki Tsunoda suggested the threshold needs to be increased given the number of races that are now taking place over a 12-month period.
“I was in a similar situation and almost got banned two years ago,” Tsunoda said. “The penalty points didn’t seem to be changed over the last 10 years, since they were introduced. Now, it feels like the penalty points should get a little bit more compliant — it seems kind of strict for 24 races. But at the same time everyone is in the same position, so we have to deal with it.”
As much as Magnussen’s move on Gasly has been defended as not worthy of triggering a ban by most drivers, George Russell says there needs to be a line drawn somewhere for repeat offenses, and that Magnussen had multiple other incidents that could not be allowed to reoccur.
“It’s a conversation which has been had in previous years as drivers sail close to the wind,” Russell said. “No one has been banned in 12 years so, you could argue, were the penalty points harsh enough?
“His penalty points in Monza were harsh but you could argue that some of the others were not harsh enough. Also, we need to set a precedent for the junior series. You shouldn’t be able to get away with dangerous or erratic driving. At some point, you need to be punished for it.”
Kevin Magnussen was left “flat out, just completely confused” by the penalty he received in the Italian Grand Prix that triggered a race ban. The Haas driver attempted to overtake Pierre Gasly into the second chicane, but locked up and the pair …
Kevin Magnussen was left “flat out, just completely confused” by the penalty he received in the Italian Grand Prix that triggered a race ban.
The Haas driver attempted to overtake Pierre Gasly into the second chicane, but locked up and the pair banged wheels, both running wide and continuing. Magnussen was handed a 10s time penalty for causing a collision, with the standard two penalty points that came with it taking him to a total of 12 and triggered a one-race suspension for the next event in Baku.
“I’m frustrated about the penalty — I don’t understand it at all,” Magnussen said. “Flat out, just completely confused. We raced hard into Turn 4, we had slight contact and we both missed the corner, we came back on track again, no damage to either car, no consequence in the race for either of us and I get a 10s penalty.
“Then lap one, [Daniel] Ricciardo and Nico [Hulkenberg]… Ricciardo put Nico on the grass at 300kmh, completely destroyed Nico’s race, massive consequence and damage to Nico’s car and he gets a 5s penalty. Where is the logic? I just don’t get it.”
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The time penalty still didn’t demote Magnussen out of the points, dropping him from ninth to 10th, just 0.1s ahead of Fernando Alonso in the final classification. As he was speaking immediately after getting out of the car, he admitted he hadn’t seen the official document from the stewards yet confirming his ban, but had been true to his word that he wouldn’t change the way he raced in order to try and get the best result.
“I only know I have the two points from you; I haven’t heard it officially,” he said to the media. “But I said all the time I am not going to hold back. It doesn’t make sense. I scored a point today, so see you later.”
Team principal Ayao Komatsu confirmed to SiriusXM that Oliver Bearman was the likely replacement for Magnussen in Azerbaijan, but that he would need final approval from Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur.
“It’s a time penalty so we cannot do anything,” Komatsu said. “We just accept it and then just have to put a plan in place. It’s a shame because [at] Baku, I think Kev would be really strong. That’s a circuit where he’s strong, so it’s a shame.
“I cannot say [if Bearman will drive] at this minute; I need to get confirmation from Fred. It’s [TBD].”
Kevin Magnussen had his one-race ban confirmed by the FIA after picking up more penalty points at the Italian Grand Prix. The Dane was handed a 10s time penalty and two penalty points for causing a collision with Pierre Gasly, with the contact …
Kevin Magnussen had his one-race ban confirmed by the FIA after picking up more penalty points at the Italian Grand Prix.
The Dane was handed a 10s time penalty and two penalty points for causing a collision with Pierre Gasly, with the contact between the two at the second chicane seeing both miss the corner but continue. Magnussen has been walking a tightrope on 10 penalty points for a number of months — with 12 within a 12-month period triggering a ban — and the two given to him in Monza led to his Super License being suspended for the next race in Baku.
“On the approach to Turn 4, Car No. 20 attempted to overtake Car No. 10 on the inside,” the stewards’ explanation read. “While Car No. 20 had its front axle past the mirror of Car No. 10, the Driving Standards Guidelines specify that an overtaking car has to ‘be driven in a safe and controlled manner throughout the maneuver.’
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“The stewards determined that this was not the case for Car No. 20 and hence the driver was wholly to blame for the collision and hence the standard penalty and penalty points are allocated.”
Following that explanation, a separate document from the stewards confirmed: “The Super License of the driver of Car No. 20 is suspended for the next competition of the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship.
“Following this suspension, 12 penalty points will be removed.”
Haas is likely to promote reserve driver Oliver Bearman — who will replace Magnussen at the team in 2025 — into the seat in Azerbaijan, although that is pending final approval from Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur as he’s a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy and was due to race in Formula 2 that weekend.
It was not even 24 hours after the Belgian Grand Prix had ended, when members of Formula 1 teams were preparing to take a few weeks off during August, that Carlos Sainz finally announced his next move. Sainz had been described as the cork in the …
It was not even 24 hours after the Belgian Grand Prix had ended, when members of Formula 1 teams were preparing to take a few weeks off during August, that Carlos Sainz finally announced his next move.
Sainz had been described as the cork in the bottle by Kevin Magnussen – on the record, and in sometimes more colorful language by multiple other drivers off it – when it came to the driver market, with so many teams showing interest and making offers to the Spaniard.
Realistically Sainz’s options came down to a choice between Williams, Alpine and Stake/Sauber/Audi, and while Sainz’s decision has brought clarity for the first of that trio’s situation, the other two still have vacancies that need filling.
Further clarity may be imminent as the paddock reconvenes in Zandvoort this weekend, but there’s also a chance there’s going to be less of a rush as neither team appears to have been able to secure their first choice.
If we start with the more competitive of the two at the moment, Alpine might finally be about to promote one of its junior drivers into a race seat – and fair play to the team for putting itself in that position given its ongoing off-track instability and where it started this season.
It’s always tough to compare drivers, but the success of Oscar Piastri after a year in the reserve role at Enstone shows that Alpine can prepare young talent even if it hasn’t always then handled their contracts effectively, and Jack Doohan has been following in his fellow Australian’s footsteps over the past two years.
This year is far more similar to Piastri’s final year with Alpine, as Doohan isn’t racing but solely focused on the reserve and development role, and he has made a strong case for a chance in F1 with testing outings on top of some of his previous F2 performances.
But he’s not alone on that list, with Valtteri Bottas still on the market and serving as an experienced option should Alpine want to head that way. So is his current teammate Zhou Guanyu, a former Renault junior who never got a shot in a race seat with the team. The latter could bring backing as well as some experience now, but would also be a slightly harsh call over Doohan.
Mick Schumacher has ties through Alpine’s hypercar program and will also be a consideration, and Kevin Magnussen is also a free agent if the team wants more experience and doesn’t get Bottas.
Bottas and Magnussen are both experienced options. Andy Hone/Motorsport Images
The future Audi project has been a bit of a mess over the past 18 months, and it has shown through the managerial changes that have taken place recently, alongside the fact it couldn’t convince Sainz to join.
But the hirings of Mattia Binotto and Jonathan Wheatley are strong ones, and all of the drivers above will hold some interest in being part of the transition next year. Sebastian Vettel’s name has also been linked with a return to F1 with Audi, although Helmut Marko clarified he was one of multiple options he mentioned as attractive German drivers that could partner Nico Hulkenberg.
Such is the lack of clear expectations over where the team goes next after missing out on Sainz, however, that even the name of Formula 2 title contender Gabriel Bortoleto has cropped up in passing. The Brazilian impressed in his rookie year, but is part of the McLaren young driver setup.
The lack of firm interest from Mercedes in Sainz was somewhat surprising to Williams team principal James Vowles, but it also served to somewhat keep Toto Wolff’s team out of the limelight when it comes to its driver situation. In any other year, there would be incessant focus on the vacancy at Mercedes, with the team needing to replace the most successful driver in F1 history when Lewis Hamilton heads for Ferrari.
That’s not to say there hasn’t been attention on Mercedes, but certainly less than you might have expected for that seat given the way the driver market has been playing out, and with the growing feeling that it will be Andrea Kimi Antonelli making the step up as a rookie.
Antonelli turns 18 at the end of this weekend, and that opens up the possibility of him making an FP1 appearance at his home race in Monza. He has tested for Mercedes already this year, but it would be another step on the path towards a full-time race seat if he were to get a Friday practice outing. If he does, take it as a sign of the continuing trend towards Antonelli partnering George Russell in 2025.
Lawson and Perez’s futures have been constant talking points. Andy Hone/Motorsport Images
And the other factor to keep in mind, despite comments at the start of the break, is the ongoing focus at Red Bull relating to Sergio Perez.
Marko promised a decision on reserve driver Liam Lawson next month – meaning in September – and he’s certainly a strong candidate for the as-yet-unconfirmed RB seat, but that doesn’t mean there couldn’t be movement elsewhere too.
The decision from Red Bull to stick by Perez and show faith in him heading into the break was sensible in the way that it meant there were no doubts or strong rumors during those few weeks. But that also doesn’t mean the team is guaranteeing him his spot indefinitely.
The focus will be on making sure the car helps Perez feel more confident behind the wheel, and Red Bull is taking on its share of the responsibility on that front. But if there is not an upturn in performances and results alongside that work, then Perez is not immune from replacement.
That could provide a lifeline to Daniel Ricciardo, who is currently staring at a departure from RB unless he produces some remarkable performances. He probably needs to be doing that anyway, but if Perez does regain the type of form that he had at the start of the season then there won’t be room for Ricciardo at Red Bull and Lawson could well be replacing him in 2025. And that’s without factoring in the job Isack Hadjar is doing in F2, where he leads the championship.
Decisions and announcements could come at any time, but what it all adds up to is at least the potential for a quiet spell, because Mercedes and RB look extremely likely to promote from within their own ranks.
Alpine and Stake then have a large number of potential candidates to choose from. The ball is now more in their courts than Sainz’s, as was the case previously, so if they don’t make quick commitments there could still be a few twists and turns in the market yet.
Kevin Magnussen will lose his race seat at Haas at the end of the current season, the team has confirmed. The Dane has driven for Haas for all but two of its seasons in Formula 1, joining for its second year in place of Esteban Gutierrez and then …
Kevin Magnussen will lose his race seat at Haas at the end of the current season, the team has confirmed.
The Dane has driven for Haas for all but two of its seasons in Formula 1, joining for its second year in place of Esteban Gutierrez and then losing his drive in 2021 when the team opted for an all-rookie lineup. Haas turned to Magnussen again in 2022 but has now confirmed it will be his last season with the team as it opts for a fresh pairing next season.
“I’d like to extend my thanks to everyone at MoneyGram Haas F1 Team — I’m proud to have raced for such a great team of people these last few years,” Magnussen said. “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. I’ve enjoyed some great moments with this team — memories I’ll never forget.
“While I’m looking forward to the next chapter of my racing career, I remain fully focused on giving everything I’ve got for the rest of 2024 with MoneyGram Haas F1 Team.”
Haas has been linked with Esteban Ocon as a potential replacement for the 31-year-old, with an experienced driver the expected target to partner rookie Ollie Bearman in 2025 and Ocon’s departure from Alpine also already public. While there is so far no confirmation of who will take the second seat, team principal Ayao Komatsu suggests there could still be a role of some kind on offer to Magnussen in future.
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“I’d like to thank Kevin for everything he’s given us as a team — both on and off the track,” Komatsu said. “He’s truly been a bedrock of our driver lineup 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 organization and once again showcased his own talents behind the wheel.
“There’s plenty of racing to go this year so I’m looking forward to seeing what else we can achieve with Kevin as we push together in the championship. Beyond that, and 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 on-going growth and development.”
Sergio Perez says Red Bull should ask the FIA why the stewards did not deem his first-lap crash with Kevin Magnussen at the Monaco Grand Prix worthy of an investigation. Magnussen is two penalty points away from an automatic one-race ban and was …
Sergio Perez says Red Bull should ask the FIA why the stewards did not deem his first-lap crash with Kevin Magnussen at the Monaco Grand Prix worthy of an investigation.
Magnussen is two penalty points away from an automatic one-race ban and was trying to pull alongside Perez on the climb out of Turn 1, but as the barrier follows the curvature of the road he hit Perez’s left-rear wheel and sent the Red Bull into a high-speed crash. Both Haas drivers were taken out along with Perez — whose car sustained huge damage and admits he “was a little bit shaky” afterward — but race control stated no further investigation was required.
First-lap collisions are often viewed with more leniency than other incidents due to the proximity of other cars — with Nico Hulkenberg to Magnussen’s left on this occasion — but Perez says he doesn’t understand why there wasn’t a penalty for the Dane.
“I’m very surprised because the amount of damage and how dangerous the damage was,” Perez said. “We need to ask for a reason why it’s not been investigated, because without an investigation we don’t get a reason why it wasn’t a penalty.
“I think I got the ‘lap one, let them race,’ but I think this was more dangerous driving just to keep it flat out knowing that they were going to come into contact at some point. I think that was some dangerous driving.”
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While Magnussen claimed Perez didn’t leave him any room, the Red Bull driver says it was on the car behind to take avoiding action.
“If you see my onboard… you see Kevin’s car not even close to me, alongside me, and you could see that the wall is just getting closer and closer and to keep it flat out… There was only one way out of it, and it was either contact with my car [or] with the barrier — there were just simply no room for both cars.
“And at some point he had to realize that. I’ve been in that location and many times when you are the car behind, you just have to realize that it’s time to back off before things get closer to you.
“I think he clearly shouldn’t be there in first place because there is just one way to get out of that, where it will be just to hit the wall — he either hit the wall or hit my car. So how does he want me to leave him room if he is not even alongside?
“There’s a point where you see the wall is coming to you and you just have to back off. It has happened to me many times and there is a point where you just have to back off.”
Perez says he isn’t surprised that Magnussen was taking such a risk despite being so close to a race ban, as he believes the potential consequences do not cross his mind.
“I don’t think he really thinks about it, you know, about the outcome. You sometimes find yourself in a position and you have to take a very quick decision to say, ‘OK, there’s only one way of it and it’s going to be contact.’ I think we’ve got more important things to focus on. It’s been a very frustrating weekend. I’m happy that the weekend is over and I can’t wait to get to Montreal now.”
Kevin Magnussen is fighting for his future at Haas but helped his cause with a strong performance in Imola, according to team principal Ayao Komatsu. Nico Hulkenberg has already announced his departure from Haas at the end of this season, heading to …
Kevin Magnussen is fighting for his future at Haas but helped his cause with a strong performance in Imola, according to team principal Ayao Komatsu.
Nico Hulkenberg has already announced his departure from Haas at the end of this season, heading to Stake before it becomes Audi in 2026. Magnussen has been part of the Haas lineup for all but two of the seasons the team has raced in Formula 1 so far, but with the likes of Ollie Bearman heavily linked with a drive and multiple other experienced names available on the market, Komatsu says the Dane’s place is under threat.
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“Yes [he’s fighting for his seat],” Komatsu told SpeedCity Broadcasting. “I can’t say much but of course yes, he needs to perform. But then a drive like [Imola] is very, very good. So now Kevin needs to put the whole weekend together.”
Magnussen finished 12th in Imola, 8.5 seconds off Yuki Tsunoda in the final points-paying position, but Komatsu says a strategic team error cost him a chance of 10th.
“I think we could have got P10 for sure, especially with Kevin,” he said. “Kevin started from the back, but he had a good start, he had decent pace on the medium and we went long and were looking at the gap to [Guaynu] Zhou, and then we got the pit stop lap wrong.
“One lap too late, so we came out behind Zhou. It shouldn’t have happened, and if we came out in front of Zhou, with the pace he had, he would have got Tsunoda, I’m pretty sure. So that’s really frustrating.
“I think the good thing is [drivers are interested] because we are performing out on the track, but that’s why it’s so frustrating that we should have had P10, and then other people will see that we are a proper race team now. Our best chance to attract good drivers is through the on-track sporting stuff, so that’s what we’re trying to do.”
However, pushed on names of who he might be in discussions with, Komatsu refused to make any of them public.
“I can’t, that would be very unfair to the people I am talking to,” he said. “You wouldn’t be happy if you were talking to me in confidence and I said I’m talking to you about something!”
