28/05/2015
NEWS STORY
Kevin Magnussen confirms that he's pushing hard to return to the F1 grid.
In the latest McLaren-Honda phone-in, the team's third and reserve driver Kevin Magnussen was keen to make it clear that his focus remains determinedly targeted on an F1 drive next year.
"I'm 100% determined to make my way back to an F1 drive," he told journalists. "I'm passionately devoted to succeeding as a racing driver at the highest level."
With the Woking outfit having recruited Fernando Alonso to partner veteran Jenson Button as it rekindles its relationship with Honda, Magnussen found himself back as third and reserve driver.
When it was decided that Alonso should miss the opening race of the season following his Barcelona crash, up to the plate stepped Magnussen despite minimal (39 laps) time in the MP4-30 during pre-season testing.
Unfortunately, a problem on his way to the grid meant the Danish youngster was unable to give the team - and its rivals - an idea of what it was missing out on, far less a repeat of his very impressive debut drive to a podium finish in Melbourne in 2014.
"I've done well in F1," he said. "McLaren believes in me, they know what I can do and what my potential is... I've been on the podium.
"The right thing to do is to stay with McLaren and be part of this team's future, which I believe is going to be big."
Admitting that over the winter he considered partnering his father at Le Mans, whilst also revealing he came close to an IndyCar drive (with Honda-powered Andretti Autosport, our sources inform us), Magnussen is adamant that F1 remains the goal.
"I have itchy feet... I want to go racing," he said, "I'm also very young. I'm 22 years old and I have a lot of time ahead. So I can afford one year to do what I do now, which is learn and gain a bit more experience, and learn different things perhaps I wouldn't learn about if I was racing the car.
"It's actually not a bad thing," he added, "for some things, being on the sidelines watching, because you learn different things."
"I don't want to think about 2017 or anything other than F1 because that's what I want to do. I want to get back to F1, I want to be successful in F1 and I believe I can do that in this team.
"McLaren-Honda is a very powerful team and being one of their drivers is a good thing. I'm talking to Ron and Eric about that all the time."