Kevin Magnussen Reveals How Ex-F1 Team Principal Abiteboul Lied About ‘Sacking’ Him From Renault

Kevin Magnussen, the Danish racing driver, marched into F1 with big dreams only for an under-performing Renault and hapless Haas to squander them all.

Of course, Magnussen, famously known as K-Mag, was all smiles when he signed a contract with the then debutant, Haas. However, in order to sign the Haas contract, Magnussen had to terminate his existing contract with Renault (now, Alpine) only after spending a year with them. There arrived the war of words between the driver and the team boss.

Soon after the official announcement of the Magnussen-Haas union, Renault publically alleged that it was them, who kicked Magnussen out of the team as they wanted a much more competitive Jolyon Palmer to team up alongside Nico Hulkenberg.

The former Renault boss, Cyril Abiteboul, made it look like the team was unhappy with Magnussen, which led to his ‘sacking’. But, the truth, according to Magnussen’s latest book, ‘All or Nothing’, is not even close to what the French outfit had suggested.

According to Soy Motor, a user created a social media thread to reveal what Magnussen had commented in his book. “After Kevin told Frédéric Vasseur that he would break his one-year agreement with Renault to go to Haas, Abiteboul called him to tell him that they had chosen Jolyon Palmer for the next season.”

Watch Story: Ferrari Strategy Fails We Will Never Forget

Kevin Magnussen calls Abiteboul a school kid

Magnussen wasn’t shy while describe his former boss, Abiteboul; the Danish racing driver reckoned that Abiteboul had the mentality of a school kid.

“Kevin said Abiteboul was like a school kid and wanted to pretend that he was the one who kicked Kevin out and even told him that he was the one who kicked him out. Cyril then sent out a press release saying that Renault preferred Palmer over Kevin,” he said.

“Kevin Magnussen said in an interview that Renault had offered his seat to almost everyone and joked that even the Pope had received an offer. Renault threatened to sue him for that comment. And Kevin received a written warning not to return to talk about it.”

Interestingly, both Magnussen and Abiteboul were shown the door by Haas and Renault, respectively at the same time (following the end of 2020). What do you make of Kevin’s comments about Abiteboul?

Read More: Why Do F1 Drivers Pickup Rubber?