Kevin Magnussen has revealed that he wants to work with Haas in “some capacity” in F1 2025 despite being dropped by the team at the end of F1 2024.
Haas will field an all-new driver lineup for the F1 2025 season, with current Alpine star Esteban Ocon partnering highly rated Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman.
Kevin Magnussen to maintain Haas ties for F1 2025?
Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock
While current team-mate Nico Hulkenberg is to join Audi F1, who will take over the existing Sauber team in F1 2026, on a multi-year contract, Magnussen is poised to be left without a seat for next year.
Despite becoming the first driver to be hit with a race ban under F1’s current penalty points system earlier this year, Magnussen has impressed recently and claimed his best result since Bahrain 2022 by finishing seventh at last month’s Mexican Grand Prix.
Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com at last weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, Magnussen revealed that he and Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu both want to continue their relationship in some form next year.
He said: “I think we have been clear that we want to work together in some capacity.
“We are talking about how we could do that, of course. A little bit it’s come from Ayao and I’m open to hear what he is thinking and see if I can be helpful in any way.”
Magnussen could potentially trade places with Bearman, who was appointed as one of Haas’s reserve drivers for F1 2024 alongside Pietro Fittipaldi, deputising for the Dane in Azerbaijan and Brazil over recent months.
Asked if he is experiencing any emotions as he nears the end of his F1 career, Magnussen pointed to the last time when he was dropped by Haas at the end of the 2020 season, as well as his demotion to a reserve role at McLaren at the end of his debut season in 2014.
He said: “No, I don’t think so.
“For myself, I’ve been in this situation twice before, so it’s the third time that I feel like this is going to be the last race.
“I just know that you never know, so it’s kind of fine in a way. I don’t really think about it.
“Next year I’m not going to be in Formula 1, that’s pretty clear, but I’ve learned over the years and with my experiences from one that every race you do, you just have to enjoy it.
“And as long as it lasts, enjoy it. So that’s my plan.”
Magnussen is not the only outgoing F1 2024 driver linked with a move to a reserve role for next season, with dropped Audi F1 pair Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu being touted by Mercedes and Ferrari respectively.
Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team boss, revealed over the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend that it is a “matter of time” before Bottas rejoins the team with whom he claimed 10 F1 victories between 2017 and 2021.
Bottas issued an update on his negotiations with Mercedes in Vegas, telling media including PlanetF1.com: “We’ve been talking.
“We’ve been talking for quite a long time. Obviously, this weekend I’ve been focusing on racing but it’s nice words from [Wolff] and I’m sure we will catch up again either [Sunday] or Monday.
“Of course, I want to see all the options, but if I look at it there’s many positive things about it.
“Being back in the Mercedes family, it’s a great team, it’s a great, great brand, can create lots of opportunities for the future. So it’s a really solid option for me.
“And actually, I’m really thankful that they are willing to take me in the role.”
Meanwhile, Zhou confirmed that he has held talks with Ferrari over taking a backup role to F1 2025 pairing Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, but revealed that he has other options on the table too.
He told media including PlanetF1.com: “Everybody [would] love to be driving in red, especially for the race seat.
“For the reserve [role], they show some interest so we are discussing it.
“There’s other options as well, so there’s no one team or the other I would prefer to join. I just want to making sure I’m in a team that have a good or competitive car that I can continue to learn and continue to learn for myself, from a driver’s and team perspective.
“And also [a team] trying to get me out there, doing some testing and taking the reserve role to work on the development as well.”
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