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Jan.22 (GMM) The Formula 1 team Haas has confirmed reports that Kevin Magnussen will remain involved in 2025.
This week, as he prepared for the Daytona 24 hours as a factory BMW driver, the Dane admitted he is perfectly happy to be stepping away from the lower end of the F1 grid.
“I knew I wasn’t super keen on continuing in Formula 1,” he told sportscar365.com. “I wasn’t really actively looking for another contract in Formula 1.”
However, even before the end of the 2024 season, the 32-year-old driver and Haas boss Ayao Komatsu were exploring ways to remain affiliated in 2025.
In recent days, it was rumoured Magnussen would serve as a part-time Haas reserve this season, and as an experienced ‘benchmark’ driver for the team’s new Toyota-backed TPC (Testing of Previous Cars) program and in the Toyota driver simulator in Cologne.
Komatsu confirmed the news during a news conference from Haas’ Banbury base.
“He will drive in TPC and in the simulator,” the Japanese said, according to France’s Auto Hebdo.
Komatsu did not declare who Haas’ reserve drivers will be in 2025, but the duties are likely to be spread between Magnussen, Toyota junior Ritomo Miyata, and even Toyota’s Ryo Hirakawa – despite the latter actually signing up as Alpine’s reserve.
“In Abu Dhabi,” Komatsu said, referring to Hirakawa’s post-season Haas test, “he impressed us a lot on all levels, but I think the guys at Toyota already expected that.”
Finally, Komatsu announced that Esteban Ocon’s race engineer this year will be the newly-promoted German Laura Muller – the first female race engineer in F1 history.
“I didn’t choose Laura because she is a woman,” Komatsu insisted. “We don’t look at nationality or gender. That really doesn’t matter, the work is what counts.
“When I knew that Esteban was coming to us, I thought that it was the right match.”
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