Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRenault

Magnussen will enjoy second chance in F1 more

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Kevin Magnussen says he will enjoy his second chance in F1 more having earned a race seat with Renault.

The Danish driver was dropped by McLaren at the end of 2015, one year after being demoted to test and reserve to make way for Fernando Alonso. A late deal was agreed for him to replace Pastor Maldonado at Renault this season and Magnussen says he is going to make sure he is able to appreciate life as an F1 driver alongside the pressures of the job.

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"I think I will enjoy it more because you never know when it will end," Magnussen said. "I will enjoy it all more because sometimes when you lose things, no matter what it is, if you lose something then you find out what it means to you. If you are happy and you are enjoying it you always drive a bit better."

And Magnussen says he has a good start to his Renault career as he has found it easy to settle in to his new team.

"It has been really cool. There is a really good atmosphere at Enstone and I think the people are really happy to have the support from Renault and they really believe in it. They have been struggling for two years and kept it together and didn’t give up. Now they have a real opportunity with proper backing. There is a really good atmosphere with a big boost.

"It is pure motorsport, pure Formula 1. When you go to Enstone you don’t see anything that hasn’t got anything to do with Formula 1. Everyone at Enstone is in F1 so it is very focused and I like that."

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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.