Magnussen would 'do something else' if title was inaccessible

If Haas' Kevin Magnussen had a crystal ball that told him he would never win the world championship, he would pack up and move on to something else in his life.

Next week in Australia, Magnussen will embark on his fifth season of Formula 1, his third with Haas after his two formative years with McLaren and Renault.

Oddly, the Dane's best result to date in F1 came at his very first Grand Prix when he finished third with McLaren in Australia in 2014.

He knows Haas will be racing in the mid-field in 2019, a fair length behind the sport's Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull trio of front-runners.

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But that prospect is dampening the 26-year-old's belief that he can one day win the world title.

"If I knew that we'd only finish fourth and that I'd never win a world championship, if you could see into the future and you told me 'you won't win ever' then I'd go to do something else that I can be successful in," Magnussen told GP Fans last week in Barcelona.

"None of us come here and work our asses off to finish fourth, but that's the target this year.

"You can't say 'OK I didn't win so I'll go home', of course you need to try but you need to understand there is a process and a road to success."

Last year, Haas enjoyed a good battle at the top of the mid-field with rival Renault.

While the US outfit was ultimately beaten by the French squad in the Constructors' standings, Magnussen viewed the fierce fight for the 'B-Championship' as intense as racing at the front for an outright win.

"There were a few teams last year that were so close together so it almost felt like a real championship where everyone was fighting against each other," added the Dane.

"Haas started [talk of] the 'B championship' because there were these three teams that were so far ahead of everyone else. And then you had five or six teams that were actually very, very level and were taking turns each race to be best of the rest.

"That's how the whole championship should be, but it isn't.

"It's very, very tough in that midfield and it was much more difficult to finish seventh than to win at times [last season] because there was so much more competition to finish seventh than at the front."

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