Kevin Magnussen says he is keen to "prove many points" when he returns to racing in F1 with Renault this season.
The Dane was dropped by McLaren at the end of 2015 and looked to be heading out of the sport with few race drives available. However, having been in talks over a further reserve role at Renault he was then able to secure a race seat after the team terminated its contract with Pastor Maldonado due to payment issues from his sponsor PDVSA.
"Hopefully I’ll prove many points," Magnussen said after being confirmed at a Renault launch event in Paris on Wednesday. "I’m extremely motivated after a whole year away. I’ve been sitting on the sideline during the races for so many weekends and I’m hungry to come back and prove my worth. I’ve raced my whole life and I’m extremely hungry and keen to get in a race car again and even more so with Renault Sport!"
After completing a deal so recently, when asked about his hopes for Melbourne - where he was on the podium on his F1 debut but failed to start in 2015 - Magnussen replied: “I expect it to be better than last year!
“Let’s take it day-by-day. This is the build-up phase, it’s a new team so we’re going to be learning a lot at the beginning and we have to be humble and realistic and work extremely hard. So let’s see, I’m going to go in to the first race and really enjoy just being back in a proper race car with a proper Formula One team.”
And Magnussen admits he will have to work hard to prepare himself for the new season having only recently joined Renault, saying he will spend much of the time before the first test at the team's factory.
“I’m going to go to Enstone and be in there as much as I can with the engineers. I am going to be in the simulator … [my race engineer] is not announced yet but I will be in capable hands.
"I will work as hard as I can to catch up with everything over the next three weeks before the test. I’m confident this team will give me exactly what I need in terms of their support and help me to get ready.”
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