Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Magnussen: ‘Difficult’ to race in Australia

Kevin Magnussen admits it would be very tough for him to have to race in Australia if Fernando Alonso was not fit to take part.

Alonso was hospitalised for three days following a crash on the final day of the second test at the Circuit de Catalunya, with the incident enough to rule him out of the final test. While McLaren says Alonso is uninjured, Ron Dennis has already confirmed he will need to pass an FIA test to race, with Magnussen due to fill in if Alonso misses Australia.

After his only day driving the MP4-30 before the first race resulted in just 39 laps, Magnussen concedes it would be tough for him to jump in the car in Melbourne.

“I think it would be difficult because I’ve not really had my own team of engineers and mechanics to talk to all winter,” Magnussen said. “So I’ve kind of been on the sidelines a little bit. I’ve followed what was going on and kept up to date with it but it’s different when you have your own team and you can go there every day and work with them and prepare like that.

“So it would be difficult, but if I have to then I would be very happy to do it.”

Racing director Eric Boullier says McLaren should know who is driving in Australia in the coming days.

“As soon as the green light is given by the doctors which should be next week,” Boullier said. “Sorry, it’s not in my hands. There is nothing wrong but I just think there is a final check to be done and the green light should be given.”

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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.