Former McLaren, Renault and Haas F1 driver Kevin Magnussen has made it clear that he's not interested in returning to Formula 1 driving for anything less than a race-winning team.
The 29-year-old Dane took part in 119 Grand Prix races between 2014 and 2020. He and Romain Grosjean were both let go by Haas a year ago in favour of a new all-rookie line-up for 2021.
Since then, Magnussen has been competing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the United States with Chip Ganassi Racing, and won his first race in the series at Detroit amid four further podium finishes.
He's also tried his hand in IndyCar with a run in the REV Group Grand Prix at Road America with the Arrows McLaren SP team.
"That IndyCar race came up two days before and I jumped in," he recalled. "I knew it was going to be difficult, with no testing and first practice is your first time in an IndyCar, on a track that you never raced on before.
"I didn’t want to say no. I knew it was going to be difficult, but I thought, why not?" he told RACER magazine. “That’s the fun part of this chapter of my life."
The feeling of being competitive again after years stuck in the midfield or at the back of the F1 grid has reenergised Magnussen, who says he's never going to go back to how things were.
“The rest of my career will be only racing with a hope of winning,” he said. “Whatever I do, I won’t go into anything if I know I can’t win, ever again.
“Whatever I do, I want to commit. Winning is the main focus and the main priority," he added. "I don’t want to do things by half."
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That almost certainly rules out any possible future return to F1, where the number of teams capable of regularly challenging for the win remains very small.
“I’ve been there, done that,” he said of his time in F1 in which his best result was second place in his maiden race in Australia. By contrast, his final season with Haas saw him pick up just a single point all year.
“I was there for seven years and I enjoyed it most of the time," he said. "But sporting-wise, as an athlete, it wasn’t rewarding enough to be in the position I was in.
“It was a great experience," he continued. "I love that I was able to do it. I dreamed about F1 ever since I was a little kid, so I really feel privileged to be able to fulfil my dream and be there and actually have a career in F1.
"To win in these things I’m doing, you can’t do it with your left hand, you know? You need full focus and full commitment.
“We’ll see what the future brings. I’m still fairly young and hopefully have a lot of years in motorsport left when I can hopefully realise some of my motorsport fantasies.”
Right now, he's finding that racing in the US is keeping him fulfilled.
“It’s really good to be here and have that spark back. You can go into every weekend and you can smell blood," he said. "It just gives an extra sort of energy I haven’t had in a while.
Although he'll be taking part in the Le Mans 24 Hour race in the new Peugeot Hypercar, the rest of Magnussen's racing plans for 2022 currently remain open and subject to confirmation.
"I can just kind of have fun with what I’m doing," he explained. "I don’t need to be doing anything, I just do it because I love racing and have a good time.
“I’m looking at everything. One day I wake up and think ‘Ah, Dakar is pretty cool!’. You know? That’s the beauty of it, motorsport is fun. There’s not anything I don’t want to do really.”
And outside the sport, Magnussen has plenty on his hands having become a father for the first time just over a year ago, weeks after his final F1 outing.
“It was really good timing in terms of that, having our child in January last year, straight after the F1 season,” he said.
“I am really happy to have had that first year with [my daughter] with that much time. It was really really good timing and I’m so happy that happened."
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