Kevin Magnussen said that he felt in his stomach that he wanted to return to F1 when the opportunity to race for Haas emerged, but didn't fully realize how much he missed it.
The 29-year-old Dane was gearing up for a season in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship with Chip Ganassi Racing and looking forward to racing with Peugeot in the WEC when F1 unexpectedly came calling.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine led to the Haas F1 team severing ties with its Russian title sponsor Uralkali and its driver Nikita Mazepin whose seat was funded by the fertilizer giant owned by his father, Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin.
Haas team boss Guenther Steiner drew up a short list of candidates to race alongside Mick Schumacher this season, and Magnussen, who raced for Haas from 2017 to 2020, was the Italian's first choice.
"When I left F1, I think I could have stayed in F1 with another team but it would have been messy with a lot of sponsors," explained the Dane ahead of his return to the fray in Bahrain.
"I didn’t really have the motivation. I ran out of motivation to be running at the back. I had only done that for two years, as previous to that I had been in the midfield and that was really fun.
"But those two years were tough from a motivational point of view.
"Then I went away, did some other racing and got podiums, pole positions and wins, and that was really fun.
"I was enjoying it and then Gunther called me and ruined all of that!
"I could just feel in my stomach that I want to do to this. I didn’t know that I missed it that much, but when I got the opportunity I was like ‘yeah’."
Magnussen admitted that even after Steiner's first call, his return to F1 seemed like a long shot.
"Gunther called me about a week ago, and I was just about to go to the US with my family for a holiday before Sebring," he said.
"I decided to go because I thought ‘let’s see if it happens or not.’ Then I got to Miami and Gunther called back and said, ‘let’s do it’ and so I came back.
"There was a lot of stuff that had to be sorted out, of course. I was contracted to Peugeot, and with Ganassi actually, I was contracted to race with them at Sebring in the 12 hour race next weekend. But he was super nice to let me out of that deal."
Magnussen and Haas agreed on a multi-year deal, and the Dane concedes that the prospect of a stable residency in F1 was a nice sweetener.
"It wasn’t something I said that it has to be, but I was happy it was because it wouldn’t have made sense to come back for one year," he said.
"I’ve tried it, it is not new to me. Coming back properly and Gunther saying how motivated the team are, it feels like they are in good shape and it was just too exciting. I really wanted to do it. I can feel that."
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