Kevin Magnussen

Kevin Jan Magnussen (born 5 October 1992) is a Danish racing driver. Magnussen is the first child of four time Le Mans class winner and former Formula One driver Jan Magnussen and mother Britt Petersen. He is a member of the McLaren Formula One team's Young Driver Programme and drove for McLaren in the 2014 Formula One World Championship. In, Magnussen will be the reserve driver for McLaren-Honda, as he was replaced by Fernando Alonso, alongside Jenson Button.

Early career
Born in Roskilde, Zealand, Magnussen began his career in karting. In 2008 he made the step up to Formula Ford in Denmark, winning the championship. He also raced in six races of the ADAC Formel Masters series.

In 2009 Magnussen moved up to Formula Renault, finishing runner-up to António Félix da Costa in the Northern European Cup and finishing seventh in the Eurocup, driving for Motopark Academy.

In 2010 Magnussen competed in the German Formula Three Championship with Motopark Academy and Carlin Motorsport; winning the opening round of the season at Oschersleben. He finished third in the championship, taking the rookie title in the process.

In 2011 Magnussen moved on to Cooper Tires British Formula 3 with Carlin.

Formula One career
Magnussen had his first experience of the McLaren MP4-27 Formula One car on track at the Abu Dhabi Young Driver test on 6 November 2012. He set a quickest time of 1:42.651. Previously he had done work in the team's driving simulator. Magnussen's time was the best of the three-day test impressing McLaren's sporting director Sam Michael. The distance he covered in the course of the test was sufficient to earn his FIA Super Licence.

McLaren (2014)
On 14 November 2013 it was confirmed that Magnussen would drive for McLaren for the season, replacing Sergio Pérez. In line with a new rule introduced in Formula One for the 2014 season – where drivers pick a car number that they will use during their career – Magnussen raced with number 20 as this was the number he had on his DAMS car in 2013 when he won the championship.

At the Jerez and Bahrain pre-season tests he topped the timesheets, and at the first race in Australia, he qualified in fourth position. In the race itself, Magnussen avoided crashing at the start – after his car encountered oversteer through wheelspin – and after passing Lewis Hamilton's ailing Mercedes in the early stages, Magnussen maintained position to take a third place finish; he finished 2.2 seconds on-the-road behind Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo in second place. As a result, Magnussen became only the second Danish driver – after his father Jan, who was sixth at the 1998 Canadian Grand Prix – to take a points-scoring finish, and the first debutant, since Hamilton at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix, to take a podium in their first Grand Prix. After the race, Magnussen described the result as "like a victory". He was later promoted to second place in the results, after Ricciardo was disqualified due to fuel irregularities, making him the first rookie to finish second since Jacques Villeneuve at the 1996 Australian Grand Prix. Magnussen recorded eleven further points-scoring finishes throughout 2014, the majority being ninth or tenth place finishes; although Magnussen recorded seventh place finishes in Austria and Great Britain – circuits where he had prior experience from junior formulae – and a fifth place finish in Russia. On 11 December 2014, however, it was announced Fernando Alonso would be returning to McLaren to partner Button, leaving Magnussen to be a test and reserve driver for McLaren.

Magnussen lives in Woking, Surrey, near to the McLaren Technology Centre.

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results
(key)

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

$†$ Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Complete Formula One results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)