Kevin Magnussen: From a Welding Job to a Formula One Podium and a Haas Pole

Kevin Magnussen is a Danish racing driver who has competed in Formula One for McLaren, Renault and Haas and now races in sportscars and NASCAR. He finished third on his Formula One debut in 2014 and was later promoted to second, and his only pole position came for Haas in 2022. He spent much of his early career fighting for funding, and his path to the top was not a straight line.

How did Kevin Magnussen rise through the junior formulae?

Magnussen won the 2008 Danish Formula Ford Championship and then raced in the Formula Renault and Formula 3 ranks. A stint in Formula Renault 3.5 brought a title in 2013, and his membership of the McLaren Young Driver Programme gave him a route to a race seat.

Magnussen was born on 5 October 1992 in Roskilde, Denmark. His father, Jan, raced in Formula One and won his Le Mans class four times. He began his career in karting. That year he stepped up to Formula Ford in Denmark, winning eleven of fifteen races and the title, and he also contested six rounds of the ADAC Formel Masters.

Funding then became a problem. Between 2008 and 2009, Magnussen was forced to stop racing and worked as a factory welder until sponsorship came through for Formula Renault in 2009. He joined Motopark Academy, finishing runner-up to Antonio Felix da Costa in the Northern European Cup and seventh in the Eurocup.

In 2010 he raced in German Formula Three with Motopark Academy, winning the opening round at Oschersleben and two more races. He finished third in the championship and took the rookie title. In 2011 he moved to the British Formula 3 Championship with Carlin, where he won seven races and finished runner-up to his teammate Felipe Nasr.

He also finished third in the Masters of Formula 3 race at Zandvoort that year.

At Macau in 2011 he made his only appearance at the Grand Prix. He placed seventh in qualifying but had to start from the back of the grid in the qualifying race after ignoring yellow flags, and he was eliminated in a high-speed collision in the main race after starting from nineteenth.

From factory welder to a McLaren podium on debut, a Haas pole and a Formula One record for starts without leading a lap.

How did Magnussen's McLaren debut go?

Magnussen debuted for McLaren at the 2014 Australian Grand Prix and finished third, becoming the first Danish podium finisher in Formula One. He was later promoted to second after Daniel Ricciardo's disqualification, Those positions made him the first rookie to take second place since Villeneuve in 1996.

McLaren's Young Driver Programme had already included him since 2010. In 2012 he drove the McLaren MP4-27 for the first time at an Abu Dhabi young driver test, setting the quickest time and earning the Super Licence he needed. He topped the timesheets at the Jerez and Bahrain pre-season tests and then took fourth on the grid in Melbourne, where he kept out of trouble at the start.

He made the most of the race, passing Lewis Hamilton's ailing Mercedes early on and holding position behind Ricciardo, who was 2.2 seconds ahead at the flag. Magnussen described the result as like a victory. He picked up eleven further points finishes that season, most of them ninth or tenth, with seventh places in Austria and Britain and fifth in Russia.

The 2015 season went badly. Fernando Alonso took over his race seat, and Magnussen became the team's test and reserve driver. He was called up for the Australian Grand Prix when Alonso was ruled out with concussion, but he suffered an engine failure on the formation lap and never started. McLaren released him at the end of the year.

What happened at Renault and back at Haas?

Magnussen spent 2016 with Renault, partnering Jolyon Palmer, and his season was marred by a string of incidents. A puncture on the opening lap in Australia still left him twelfth, and he started from the pit lane in Bahrain. He finished seventh at the Russian Grand Prix, Renault's best finish of the year.

Before the Renault seat came together, he had been linked with Haas, Manor Racing and the IndyCar team Bryan Herta Autosport. He tested a Mercedes DTM car and a Porsche LMP1 car as well, which hinted at options outside Formula One.

Renault had bought the Lotus team and was returning to the sport after a four-year break. Early reports suggested he would replace Pastor Maldonado after a contract breach, and Renault then confirmed him as a partner for the rookie Jolyon Palmer.

Magnussen joined Haas for 2017, replacing Esteban Gutierrez and partnering Romain Grosjean. His first points came with eighth place in China, and a tenth place at Monaco gave Haas its first double points finish. He finished the year with seventh at Azerbaijan as his best result and 14th overall with nineteen points.

He retained his seat for 2018, and the Haas VF-18 was a clear step forward. He was Bahrain brought fifth, his best since the 2014 Russian Grand Prix, and fifth again in Austria, the team's best race result at that point. He set the fastest lap at Singapore, the team's first, and ended the year ninth with 56 points, his best finish in the championship.

The next two seasons were tougher. In 2019 the VF-19 became uncompetitive as the season went on, and Magnussen finished 16th with twenty points. He scored a best finish of sixth in Australia and added a few more points until a ninth-place finish in Russia. In 2020 the VF-20 was off the pace early on, and his best result was a tenth place after a penalty.

Haas had broken the team radio rules, and Magnussen was handed a ten-second penalty that dropped him from ninth to tenth in Hungary. That gave him, and the team, their first point of the year.

How did the 2022 return and Sao Paulo pole come about?

Haas terminated the contract of Nikita Mazepin after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and Magnussen returned to the team on a multi-year deal, partnering Mick Schumacher. He finished fifth in Bahrain, scoring one of only five top-five finishes in the team's history up to that point.

In Saudi Arabia he reached the final part of qualifying, started tenth and finished ninth, which gave Haas consecutive points for the first time since 2019.

His pole came at the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Magnussen qualified first after George Russell spun at turn four and brought out a red flag, and the track conditions worsened during the stoppage so that no driver could beat his earlier time. It made him only the second driver in Formula One history to take pole for a non-Ferrari team with a Ferrari engine. The previous one was Sebastian Vettel at Toro Rosso, at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, fourteen years earlier.

He finished the sprint eighth and retired from the Grand Prix on the opening lap after a collision with Daniel Ricciardo. Haas's scoring in 2022 was consistent: Magnussen took points at Silverstone with tenth and at Austria despite engine trouble, and the Silverstone round gave Haas its first double points finish since 2019.

Why did his final Haas spell end in 2024?

Magnussen partnered Nico Hulkenberg in 2023 and 2024, and the car did not suit his driving style, while Haas's tyre management struggled. He scored points three times in 2023 and finished the season with three points to Hulkenberg's nine.

Magnussen later summed up the year as one without great highlights, saying he had been happy with some tenth-place finishes because they reflected how difficult the season had been.

His final season began with tenth in Australia, which gave Haas its first double points since 2022. At Monaco he crashed on the opening lap in a collision with Sergio Perez, which was judged a racing incident. He finished seventh in Mexico City, his best result since 2022.

Canada was a frustrating race. He made a strong start from fourth on the opening lap but lost time at a pit stop on lap eight, finishing twelfth behind Hulkenberg. Austria brought eighth, and he helped guide his teammate to sixth.

Magnussen collected penalty points on his Super Licence after the Italian Grand Prix, earning a one-race ban. The ban made him the first driver barred from a race since Grosjean in 2012, and Oliver Bearman stood in for him at Azerbaijan. He announced his departure ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, and he missed the Sao Paulo race when he was unwell.

What has Magnussen done since leaving Formula One?

In sportscars Magnussen won the Detroit race in 2021 with Chip Ganassi Racing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and finished that season with four consecutive podiums. He raced at Le Mans in 2021 with High Class, alongside his father, and finished 29th overall.

Earlier, in November 2015, he had tested a Porsche 919 Hybrid at Barcelona, but no contract followed. He was also due to race in the 2022 World Endurance Championship for Peugeot Sport, though he was released from that deal after returning to Formula One with Haas.

He returned to sportscars as a BMW works driver in the LMDh programme in 2025. In 2026 he won the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo in the World Endurance Championship with BMW M Team WRT, and his IMSA results at Daytona and Sebring that year were eighth and tenth.

His NASCAR Cup debut at the Coronado Street Course, with the No. 91 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing, was announced on 3 June 2026. He finished 27th and set the fastest lap. Earlier, he had raced one IndyCar round for Arrow McLaren in 2021, qualifying 21st before retiring with mechanical trouble.

Career summary