Haas has officially confirmed the name of its second driver! A familiar name from Denmark returns to F1

A somewhat surprising choice. Instead of Nikita Mazepin, whose contract was recently terminated by Haas, Mick Schumacher will be replaced by a driver who was a teammate of Romain Grosjean and who retired from F1 in 2020. Yes, we’re talking about Kevin Magnussen.

The Haas F1 Team on Wednesday evening officially named its new driver to replace Russian Mazepin, whose contract has been terminated by the American stable.

The Danish driver, who has previously worked for the team, will therefore drive alongside Schumacher in the 2022 season, specifically from 2017 to 2020. According to the latest information, it is then to be a multi-year contract.

“I am delighted to welcome Kevin back to the team. When we were looking for a rider with experience, Kevin was the obvious choice for us,” said Haas boss Guenther Steiner in an official statement.

It is no secret, however, that the American team was also looking at other drivers – the trio of Antonio Giovinazzi, Nico Hülkenberg, Pietro Fittipaldi has been the talk of the past. For example, Giovinazzi was still defending the colours of Alfa Romeo last year and, unlike Magnussen, he did not take a break from Formula 1.

Magnussen parted ways with the team at the end of the 2020 season, the main reason being that Haas wanted to start working with two young drivers and set a different concept.

After the Danish driver left the world of queen motorsport he switched to sports cars, primarily racing under the IMSA banner in the United States. In this competition, he went on to win once (in Detroit) and five times on the podium.

He finished seventh in the drivers’ championship. Last year, however, he also competed in the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans, for example, and had one appearance in an IndyCar race.

“I want to thank Gene Haas and Guenther Steiner for the chance to resume my career in Formula 1. I know very well how competitive they both are and how much they want to get back to racing week after week,” Magnussen said in his statement, which you can see in the post above.

The Danish driver went on to add that he was very surprised but happy to receive the call from Haas.

It should be noted, Magnussen will also bring an interesting financial acquisition to the currently weakest performing stable in Formula 1, which from an objective point of view was probably the main indicator in his engagement.

Sources: Haas F1 Team, Motorsport