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Magnussen wasn't surprised by confirmation of 2018 seat

Kevin Magnussen said that he hadn't been surprised by the announcement that he and team mate Romain Grosjean would be retained by the Haas F1 Team for 2018.

The news emerged in an interview with the Formula 1 website the week before the Hungarian Grand Prix.

"We will run with the same drivers that we have this year again next year," Gene Haas was quoted as saying. "That is a given."

Despite the low key way in which the news came out, Magnussen said he had been well aware of his secure situation for 2018.

"I knew when I signed the contract that it was two years, so it's not news for me," Magnussen said. However, he was pleased that it was now out in the open.

"I think it's important for the team and for myself, because hopefully we will have no more of these kinds of questions."

Haas to retain Grosjean and Magnussen in 2018

It's the first time that the 24-year-old has enjoyed this sort of job security. His time at McLaren and Renault always seemed to be teetering on the edge of coming to an end at any moment.

"It's a nice situation," he agreed. "For the two seasons I've done in Formula 1 it's been frustrating to talk about contracts every race."

Magnussen has been praised by the Haas team management for his work at the squad since joining at the start of 2017.

"He can score points," Haas said simply. "And that was the key for bringing him on board. Kevin can grab points and Romain can too."

Magnussen last finished in the points in Baku; Grosjean was in the top ten in Austria. However the last two rounds at Silverstone and the Hungaroring proved pointless for Haas.

That's caused them to lose ground on Toro Rosso in the constructors championships. They're also coming under threat from Renault. But team principal Guenther Steiner is confident about the team's prospects in the second half of 2017.

"The midfield is so close that it can go either way every weekend," he told Ekstra Bladet newspaper.

"In Austria we were really good so it goes up and down," adding that things were wide open for the next races at Spa and Monza. "I wouldn't jump to conclusions," he said.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.