Kevin Magnussen achieved what proved to be the only podium finish of his Formula 1 career on his debut for McLaren after taking second in the 2014 Australian Grand Prix.
The Woking outfit handed Magnussen his route into the pinnacle of motorsport as McLaren again tried to replace Lewis Hamilton. Losing the Briton to Mercedes for the 2013 F1 season saw McLaren sign Sauber sensation Sergio Perez, but the Mexican failed to meet the grade.
Yet the Dane would also only spend one year in Woking before McLaren ditched Magnussen to sign Fernando Alonso. It was a decision he did not expect and one they even shared via a brief email sent by then-team principal Ron Dennis’ personal assistant on his 22nd birthday.
Magnussen would spend 2015 as a reserve driver at McLaren before returning to a full-time race seat with Renault in 2016. He was also on the move again in 2017 as Magnussen joined Haas, for whom he would race through the 2020 campaign and again from 2022 until 2024.
Kevin Magnussen was ‘naïve’ to accept McLaren’s demand to match Lewis Hamilton’s qualifying record vs Jenson Button
Now, looking back on his time at McLaren, Magnussen realises he was ‘naïve’ to accept the challenge their hierarchy set for him to get a contract for 2015. In the end, it did not matter as McLaren’s majority owners overruled Dennis and six other board members to get Alonso.
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Jonathan Neale, McLaren’s former managing director, and Eric Boullier, then-racing director, wanted Magnussen in his rookie campaign to match the qualifying speed that Hamilton had shown beside Jenson Button in the 2010-12 seasons – a task he now feels was ‘ridiculous’.
Magnussen told Motor Sport Magazine: “I remember Jonathan and Eric telling me, ‘Lewis was an average of 0.15 sec faster than Jenson in qualifying over the three years they raced alongside each other. So, to retain your drive for next year, you should be aiming to beat Jenson by the same margin’.
“I accepted it at the time but, looking back, it was unfair. Lewis and Jenson were both F1 world champions, far more experienced than I was, and Jonathan and Eric were telling me that if I wasn’t as good in my rookie season as Lewis had been in his fourth, fifth and sixth F1 seasons, I’d be out. That was crazy, and also disrespectful to Jenson.
“Now I wish I’d stood up for myself. I was naïve. But, in my defence, I was an F1 new boy. Inevitably, that unfair weight of expectation heaped unnecessary pressure on me, and I began to make mistakes.
“It was a ridiculous set of expectations to push onto a 21-year-old rookie. I had the talent [and] I had the speed, but I needed support mentally and emotionally, and the senior McLaren management on the racing side offered the opposite.”
Kevin Magnussen took his only F1 podium on debut for McLaren in the 2014 Australian GP
Dennis and six McLaren board members voted to keep Magnussen on for the 2015 season, with only two members voting for Button. But the team’s majority owners, Mansour Ojjeh and Shaikh Mohammed Bin Essa Al Khalifa, overruled them and kept Button on to partner Alonso.
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| GRAND PRIX | QUALIFYING | RACE |
| Australia | Magnussen | Magnussen |
| Malaysia | Magnussen | Button |
| Bahrain | Button | Button |
| China | Button | Button |
| Spain | Button | Button |
| Monaco | Magnussen | Button |
| Canada | Button | Button |
| Austria | Magnussen | Magnussen |
| Britain | Button | Button |
| German | Magnussen | Button |
| Hungary | Button | Button |
| Belgium | Magnussen | Button |
| Italy | Magnussen | Button |
| Singapore | Magnussen | Magnussen |
| Japan | Magnussen | Button |
| Russia | Button | Button |
| United States | Button | Magnussen |
| Brazil | Button | Button |
| Abu Dhabi | Button | Button |
It meant Magnussen was reduced to a reserve role after scoring 55 points in his rookie year to the 126 that Button had scored in the 2009 champion’s 15th season. The Briton had also finished ahead in 15 Grands Prix to four and Magnussen also lost their qualifying duel 10-9.
Still, it was not enough to persuade McLaren’s majority owners who wanted to pair Button with Alonso after the 2005 and 2006 champion left Ferrari. Magnussen would also not get on a Formula 1 podium again outside of his debut through 187 Grand Prix entries to date.
Magnussen initially finished his Formula 1 debut with McLaren in the 2014 Australian GP in third place after qualifying in fourth. But he moved into second in Melbourne, with Button promoted to P3, as Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified for breaching the maximum fuel limit.
