Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Magnussen confirms McLaren departure

Kevin Magnussen has taken to Twitter to confirm he will leave McLaren at the end of this season.

Having been demoted to test and reserve driver in 2015 following a year racing for the team last season, Magnussen said he would not be willing to wait for another year for a race seat. The possibility of returning to such a role with McLaren disappeared when Jenson Button was retained for 2016 ahead of the Russian Grand Prix.

With Magnussen now needing to find another race seat, he took to Twitter on Friday afternoon to confirm his departure and thank McLaren for his time there.

F1i understands Magnussen is only in contact with Lotus over a potential seat next season, with his chances set to increase if Renault completes a takeover of the team.

GP2 champion Stoffel Vandoorne is expected to be promoted to replace Magnussen as McLaren's test and reserve driver next season.

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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.