Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRenault

McLaren was 'character building' for Magnussen

Kevin Magnussen says he looks back on his year as a reserve driver at McLaren as "character building".

Having had a solid debut season for McLaren - including a podium on debut in Australia - Magnussen was demoted to reserve driver to make way for the returning Fernando Alonso last year. After IndyCar race plans fell through due to a call-up to replace the injured Alonso in Melbourne, Magnussen endured a frustrating year before being dropped late in the season.

Now joining Renault for his second year in a race seat, Magnussen says he has been hardened by the difficult situation he faced at McLaren.

"It’s been character building!" Magnussen said. "I had a season in 2014 with McLaren and I felt it went quite well pitched against a past World Champion. To be replaced the following year was tough even if the line-up the team used was very strong. I had been racing every year since I was six so to sit to the side certainly wasn’t part of my plan."

And Magnussen says one of the positives of his time at McLaren is the amount of experience he can bring to Renault at a young age.

"I have a lot to give. I’ve been connected to a top Formula 1 team for five years and three of those were in Formula 1 in driving and testing capacities. Despite just one season racing, I’ve got good experience. I can’t wait to get started at a great project such as a Renault factory team. I’m pleased to be a part of it."

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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.