Kevin Magnussen will leave the Haas Formula 1 team at the end of the 2024 season, the American squad announced on Thursday.
Magnussen holds the record for most F1 races started for Haas – 135, out of a career total of 175 which included time racing for McLaren and Renault.
The Dane is currently in his second stint racing for Haas, having initially been let go after the 2020 season before being brought back for 2022 when the team dropped Nikita Mazepin and his sponsor Uralkali on the eve of that season due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Magnussen scored an impressive fifth in the first race of the 2022 campaign, where his strong showings across from then-team-mate Mick Schumacher contributed to the German being replaced by Nico Hulkenberg for 2023.
But since then, fellow veteran Hulkenberg has shaded Magnussen – scoring nearly 75% of Haas’s 39 points and taking its best finishes of sixth (twice, in the last two 2024 races) in that period.
Hulkenberg has opted to join the Sauber/Audi project for 2025 and with Ollie Bearman already signed in one of Haas’s seats for next year, Magnussen’s exit had nevertheless long been expected – his early 2024 campaign complicated by a series of penalties that will keep him on the verge of a race ban until the year’s end at least.
There was also an uncomfortable phase around the Miami Grand Prix, where Magnussen’s insistence that his very aggressive defence against Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton had been done on behalf of Haas (with Hulkenberg scoring two points ahead with seventh in the sprint contest) not going down well internally as no such instruction was given.
Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-22
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
“I’d like to extend my thanks to everyone at Haas F1 Team – I’m proud to have raced for such a great team of people these last few years,” said Magnussen.
“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 Haas F1 Team.”
Magnussen’s exit mirrors that of Esteban Ocon’s from Alpine, with the Frenchman, who is understood to be close to signing a deal to…
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