Magnussen: No Interest in One-Off F1 Return Unless ‘Mercedes Came and Asked’

Ever since COVID-19 started breaching the paddock, F1 teams have been keeping their reserve drivers on standby, as potential replacements to their primary drivers. One might have expected a similar story for Haas with their former drivers, Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean.

Recently, Haas’ team principal mentioned that he would be happy to see the former Haas drivers turning up as substitutes when needed.

As a follow up to his interests, Grosjean revealed that he wouldn’t mind helping his former team when in crisis. However, K-Mag had a contrasting response to Steiner’s offer.

The Dane ruled out his return to Formula 1, as his focus has shifted to his forthcoming new adventure, World Endurance Championship. Apart from WEC, Magnussen will also be racing for the Chip Ganassi Racing team in the 2021 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

He clarified that he isn’t looking forward to one-off weekends in Formula 1 and rather demanded a full-time drive to even think about returning to F1.

Magnussen on the chances of returning to F1

According to Autosport, Magnussen revealed that unless he gets a full-time drive, he would not be returning to Formula 1.

“Guenther is a good friend, as are many people in the Haas F1 team. But any talk about racing, like a one-off race, I don’t have much interest in that,” he said.

“I like to be fully focused on what I am doing and I miss winning. I’ve done seven years of F1, [so] doing one more race, I don’t think is that interesting.

“If Mercedes came and asked me if I wanted to drive, I think everyone would look at that very seriously.”

Magnussen joined the Haas F1 team in 2017 and extended his stay until the end of 2020. During the early phase of his outing with Haas, it looked like the American team could soon dominate the mid-field pack.

However, Haas sustained a setback to their progress, as they drastically started falling back from the mid-season of 2019. Since then, the team couldn’t lift themselves up, as they decided to reshape the driver’s line-up with much younger drivers, hoping for a better 2021 season.

Now, Magnussen is all set to kick-start his new campaign at WEC and the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Will the Dane return to competing for the top step of the podium over his upcoming adventures?

Read More: Kevin Magnussen Relieved to Move Out of F1 Following an Unexciting Career of Struggles