After ten seasons of good and loyal service, Kevin Magnussen will leave the Haas F1 Team on Sunday evening and will head towards a new chapter in his career by joining BMW in endurance.
After 183 Grands Prix but with only one top 10 in the championship in 2018 (ninth), the Danish driver will bow out in Formula 1 on his way to new adventures.
This is not the first time that Magnussen will leave the Grand Prix paddock: this was already the case in 2021 when Haas preferred to field two rookies (Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin) and he had already made the choice of endurance, in IMSA with Chip Ganassi Racing and Cadillac, before signing with Peugeot Sport in 2022 only to immediately turn around when Haas called him back at the last minute.
This time, he did not wait for his last Grand Prix to be announced among the official BMW Motorsport drivers for the coming season in Hypercar on the BMW M Hybrid V8.
Take up the challenge
« I am happy and proud to represent such an iconic motorsport brand as BMW in some of the world's most legendary races, confides Kevin. After ten years in F1, I am embarking on an exciting new chapter and I look forward to the challenge behind the wheel of the most innovative and advanced sports cars in the history of endurance racing. Many thanks to BMW M Motorsport for this fantastic opportunity. »
-« Kevin Magnussen is an exceptional asset to our LMDh program, said Andreas Roos, director of BMW M Motorsport. He has regularly demonstrated his speed at the highest level in Formula 1 over the past decade. Thanks to his vast experience, he is a real asset to our project. His previous full season with a prototype sports car in 2021 is another plus for us, as it will surely facilitate his acclimatization to the BMW M Hybrid V8.
»
Family tradition and surprising reunion
Magnussen had already discovered the 24 hours of Le Mans in 2021 in the LMP2 category alongside his father Jan, a long-time pillar of the Corvette team in endurance and himself a former F1 driver. Kevin will be integrated into the Belgian WRT team which fields BMWs in the WEC and he was told a funny anecdote about his boss Vincent Vosse.
“I must have been 2 or 3 years old and we were in Spa with my father when I fell into the swimming pool even though I didn't know how to swim yet, he remembers. Vincent was dressed in a tuxedo to go to an awards ceremony, but he didn't hesitate to jump into the water to save me. Thirty years later, our paths meet again and it’s me who will have to get wet!”
