Kevin Magnussen has opened up on the nature of his split with McLaren, having had a Kimi Antonelli-esque rise into Formula 1 a decade ago. Magnussen’s F1 career came to a likely end at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with the Danish driver falling off the grid for the third time in 10 years. While Magnussen’s career saw him toiling away in the midfield for the vast majority of his 10 years, the Danish driver arrived in Formula 1 with plenty of fanfare.
Having been a member of McLaren’s junior driver programme between 2010 and ’13, Magnussen won the Formula Renault 3.5 championship in d0minant fashion in 2013 and secured a seat with the McLaren team for ’14, replacing Sergio Perez. McLaren hadn’t quite yet hit the slump that resulted in widespread changes being made in the middle of the last decade, and Magnussen’s rise into a seat with McLaren alongside Jenson Button promised much by way of podiums and possible victories.
The year started well, with Magnussen scoring his maiden (and, it was to be proven, only) F1 podium on debut in Australia as he took third place (promoted to third following a disqualification for Daniel Ricciardo). But it was to be a false dawn – McLaren’s MP4-29 was not a particularly potent machine and, while Magnussen scored 55 points, this was only enough for 11th overall – his next best result being fifth in Russia. This led to McLaren dropping him in favour of Fernando Alonso for 2015, a decision which set Magnussen back massively as he�.
