No one was more surprised to see Kevin Magnussen be given a third chance at a Formula 1 career than Kevin Magnussen. After already missing out the 2015 season before returning to the grid, Magnussen becomes one of the rare examples of a driver securing a multi-year contract in Formula 1 after a second full year out of the sport.
But in his return to the grid, Magnussen proved that Haas team principal Guenther Steiner had made a wise choice in calling up his old driver and prising him away from Peugeot and Chip Ganassi’s endurance programmes.
Having spent the entirety of 2021 working on nothing but their 2022 car, Haas had high hopes for the VF-22. When Magnussen set the fastest time of the second day of the second pre-season test in Bahrain, Haas suddenly became one of the most intriguing teams on the grid heading to the opening race.
Despite a year away, Magnussen stuck his new car seventh on the grid during the first Saturday of the season, immediately validating their aggressive development approach of the previous year. The following night, he spent the vast majority of the race as “best of the rest” behind the top three teams before taking advantage of the Red Bulls’ late retirements to cross the line in fifth, securing Haas’ best result for almost four years.
After producing the most outstanding performance of the weekend on his first round back, Magnussen followed it up by arriving at an unfamiliar circuit in Jeddah and comfortably reaching Q3 despite multiple technical problems limiting his practice time. Then in the race, he ran an exceedingly long first stint before using fresh rubber over the final laps to make his way up into the points in ninth for the second race in a row.
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The Haas simply didn’t get along with Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit and he was out-performed by young team mate Mick Schumacher for the first time. But in Imola Magnussen was back on form. He recovered from his trip into the gravel in Friday qualifying to secure fourth on the grid for the sprint race and claim the final point in eighth. In the mixed conditions during the grand prix, he secured two more points in ninth to move his tally up to 15 – team mate Schumacher still yet to contribute to his total at that point.
But it was not all smooth sailing. Miami, by Magnussen’s own admission, was the…
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