Why Magnussen is relishing a fresh start in sportscars

As Kevin Magnussen strode through the paddock of the Yas Marina Circuit in December, likely for the final time as an active Formula 1 driver, he felt no great sadness. Sure, he would miss his Haas team crew, with whom he had enjoyed many ups and downs over the previous four years, as well as the friends he had made in the paddock. And he would miss driving some of the fastest cars in the world every other weekend.

But as his F1 chapter closed, Magnussen was already looking ahead to what was coming next: a move into sportscar racing with Chip Ganassi Racing's revived IMSA SportsCar Championship team, which commenced last weekend with the Dane surging into the lead of the Daytona 24 Hours qualifying race during the wet early stages.

"I don't feel sad," he asserts. "I can't help just feeling excited, looking forward to what's next for me, rather than feel sad about not being in F1."

Magnussen had been hoping to remain in F1 for 2021. But as Haas looked for both change and cash by ushering in an all-new line-up of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin, the 28-year-old was left looking elsewhere. He set his sights Stateside, initially hoping to land an IndyCar drive. But with the majority of the grid sewn up, and the remaining teams seeking big sponsorship deals, Magnussen pondered other options.

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Once Ganassi announced in November that it would be returning to IMSA after a one-year break, moving into the DPi category with the Cadillac DPi-V.R, talks quickly progressed and led to a deal. Unlike many of his peers who tend to take an F1-or-nothing approach, Magnussen had far broader vision. To him, racing has always been about a variety of disciplines.

"A lot of people see Formula 1 as the only form of motorsport," he says. "It certainly is the biggest in terms of the attention and the money that's involved. It is the top of motorsport in many ways, no doubt. But it's not the only form.

"I've always been super-passionate about all sorts of motorsport, not only Formula 1. My biggest hero, apart from my own father [fellow F1-and-IMSA racer Jan], is Stirling Moss, who is certainly someone that was successful in many things, not just Formula 1.

"There's so much history that's kind of maybe forgotten. Of course Le Mans isn't forgotten, but there's so many races that have a lot of history outside of Formula 1. I feel really fortunate to be able to go and do some of these races."

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Magnussen showed a similar interest in projects outside of F1 when his grand prix career first stalled at the end of 2014. Despite finishing second on his debut, a result that left Magnussen believing he "was going to be fighting for the championship in my first year", his tricky rookie season with McLaren led to him being dropped into a reserve role for 2015.

"After a while, if you can't win races, even scoring points isn't so exciting. That's not a true target, if you're a real winner" Kevin Magnussen

An initial bid for an Andretti Autosport IndyCar seat was derailed after he deputised for the injured Fernando Alonso at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix. And, prior to his late return with Renault in 2016 that revived his F1 career, he had tested Porsche's 919 Hybrid LMP1 car.

But sportscars have always been in Magnussen's orbit, in no small part thanks to his father, who was a Corvette factory driver for 16 years. Magnussen Sr won his class at Le Mans on four occasions, once at the Daytona 24 Hours, and took the IMSA GTLM title with Corvette in 2017 and 2018. A long-held dream for both Magnussens has been to combine for a father-son effort at Le Mans, and was something pursued even amid Kevin's F1 career, only for it to be blocked.

"When he was a Corvette driver, there was some opportunities to do it, because Corvette could place me in the car for Le Mans," explains Kevin. "It became impossible with just logistics and time, because you need to prepare. It was difficult for Corvette to put one driver in the car for Le Mans, and not the same driver for the other big races that year."

Now that Jan has left Corvette to become the pro in pro-am line-ups, Magnussen acknowledges that the chances of racing with his dad are slim.

"We'd likely have to do it in LMP2 or GTE-Am, which is difficult because we're both platinum drivers," he says. "I'm going to be racing and trying to get good deals for myself, and hopefully in factory teams in the future. But we'll always keep an eye open for it."

The move into sportscars gives Magnussen two things he has largely missed in F1. Firstly, it will offer a return to his roots, banishing many of the airs and graces and media attention he'll have been occasionally irritated by in the past seven years. He'll have a much smaller team to work with - something he revelled in even at Haas compared to McLaren and Renault - and fewer outside distractions.

It'll be purer racing, something that fits him perfectly. And it also offers a chance to not just be competitive, but to win races once again. As impressive as Magnussen was on occasion during his time with Haas, his best finish for the team was fifth. In the past two years, he hasn't finished any race higher than sixth, and scored just a single point in his final season with the team as it languished in the third tier of the grid.

"After a while, if you can't win races, even scoring points isn't so exciting," sighs Magnussen. "Even getting into the top 10 becomes old. That's not a true target, if you're a real winner. That is not going to satisfy you.

"In Formula 1, you need to have a great car to be able to win races. One out of a thousand times it can happen, someone can win who isn't in the best car, but that's more down to luck, and you need some pretty extreme circumstances for that to happen. You can't go out and do it yourself, and make that difference. It's truly impossible.

"I'm really looking forward to getting back in a winning situation again, where I can wake up in the morning and think about how much I'm looking forward to going for the win at Daytona or Sebring or Laguna Seca, etc. There's some pretty awesome race tracks and races that I'm going to be able to look forward to."

A smile breaks across Magnussen's face as he considers the prospect of winning races again. It's something he's not done since his final Formula Renault 3.5 start in October 2013, but is going to be a real prospect with Ganassi. The American squad's IMSA programme was only announced in November, and the car build was competed just in time for an initial shakedown at Sebring earlier this month to give Magnussen his first taste of DPi machinery.

But he can rely on some vastly experienced drivers to aid his assimilation to the discipline. Magnussen will be sharing the #01 Cadillac with two-time Daytona 24 Hours winner Renger van der Zande for the full season, with Ganassi's six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon joining them for the endurance events. Former F1 driver and current IndyCar racer Marcus Ericsson has joined the trio for Daytona.

Van der Zande has won the last two editions of Daytona in the Cadillac of Wayne Taylor Racing, and has regularly been one of the top operators in sportscar racing. Although the Dutchman feels Ganassi faces a "steep learning curve" with the new programme, he is already pleased to be working alongside Magnussen.

"I'm really looking forward to getting back in a winning situation again, where I can wake up in the morning and think about how much I'm looking forward to going for the win at Daytona or Sebring or Laguna Seca" Kevin Magnussen

"It feels very natural to talk with him," says van der Zande. "Danish people and Dutch people are kind of alike, so it's like a natural fit. I'm looking forward to working with him and building the trust you need to win races together. He is a guy who understands that. His dad has been in endurance racing for 25 years, so he knows what it takes to succeed in this discipline of motorsport."

Magnussen is also excited by the opportunities being a sportscar driver can offer him elsewhere. He is keeping an eye on movements with the Hypercar platform as more manufacturers join the fray, and isn't ruling out a shot in IndyCar some day.

"It's one of the perks of being a sportscar driver: you are able to do more things," he says. "There will be more time and better opportunities to try other things."

Magnussen's grand prix career may not have panned out as most would have thought when he stood on the Melbourne podium in 2014, but he has no regrets. With that chapter closed, he is now ready for the start of a second career of sorts that could take him across an array of categories, cars and championships. And it may well lead to the kind of success that was simply never attainable in F1.