Today, Kevin Magnussen should have said yes. But in 2018, K-Mag said no, as Christian Horner wants to talk about a seat at Toro Rosso.
A lot could have gone differently for Kevin Magnussen in Formula 1. The Dane himself revealed this after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Especially in 2018, K-Mag was a changed man. Only very few things had to have gone differently, and he would have become a Ferrari coach. This was revealed in the book 'All or Nothing'.
And now Magnussen reveals that Red Bull was also interested. So much so, in fact, that team principal Christian Horner wanted to talk about a seat at the junior team Toro Rosso.
This is what Autosport writes.
– In 2018 we had a really good car in the first half of the year. Charles Leclerc had just arrived in Formula 1 with Sauber. And the start of his first season wasn't great. And mine was really good! And suddenly there was contact with Ferrari.
– Suddenly I was short in their simulator. Not for Haas, but for Ferrari. They were sniffing around. And I thought, okay… I was already getting excited about where this was going. But then Charles really started doing well. And I didn't hear anything.
That didn't mean that interest in the Dane was dead. Because Red Bull was actually also ready behind the scenes. And perhaps more than Magnussen was aware of at the time.
– After that season, Daniel left Red Bull, and I remember my backroom team talking to Christian Horner, because of course everyone was talking about the Red Bull seat.
– And Christian said: 'Whoa, there's nothing at Red Bull. But we can talk about Toro Rosso'. And I said: 'No, no, we're not going to do that', which I probably should have done.
Today, Kevin Magnussen is without a seat in Formula 1 after 10 years in the field. However, that does not mean that the door is completely closed. Several international media are linking the Dane with a seat in 2026. He is even being touted as the favorite. Read more about it here .
