19/09/2015
NEWS STORY
Kevin Magnussen is confident his simulator skills alone make him a valuable asset.
The Dane, currently recovering after fracturing his hand in a bike fall, is the centre of media speculation at present as to his plans for 2016.
Regarded as a shoe-in should Jenson Button not continue with McLaren in 2016, Magnussen has been linked with a number of other seats including Haas.
With a full season of F1 under his belt, including a podium finish in his maiden Grand Prix, the 2013 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Champion, believes his simulator skills alone make him a valuable asset.
"I've done tonnes of simulator driving, and that's a skill in itself," he told Pitpass, "and I guess I can say I've got pretty good at it. Also, McLaren's sim is a really good one, and actually not that many F1 drivers have experience of driving really good sims - maybe only the McLaren drivers, the Ferrari drivers, the Mercedes drivers and the Red Bull drivers. So that's an important addition to my skillset that will be an asset to whatever F1 teams I drive for in the future, because none of the other drivers currently looking for F1 drives have had exposure to top-level sims like I have. You only get that kind of experience if you’ve driven for one of the top teams – and my experience at McLaren helps me in that way.
"Driving for one of the top F1 teams also teaches you how to play a kind of leadership role," he continued. "I've learned that from Jenson, who is a very complete F1 driver, one of the very best in fact. Okay, obviously, the team principals and technical directors and racing directors and sporting directors and team managers and so on are the guys who actually manage the teams, of course they do, but all good F1 drivers know that they've also got a role to play in that area, and I've done that.
"I've stood up and made speeches to the entire McLaren racing staff - nearly 600 people - and I've taken it very seriously when I've done that. That kind of thing is very important, because the guys who work for F1 teams are racers just as much as we drivers are, and they want to hear that their drivers share their passion."