Kevin Magnussen is again a Haas driver, the US team made it official yesterday, after breaking off its relationship with the Russian sponsor Uralkali and the driver closely linked to the sponsor, Nikita Mazepin.

For the Dane it is a return in Formula 1: the Roskilde driver, born in 1992, drove for Haas from 2017 to 2020. In 2021 he raced in the US IMSA championship, achieving good results.

Magnussen shot down the competition of Antonio Giovinazzi, Nico Hülkenberg and above all Pietro Fittipaldi, convincing Steiner with his experience in the Circus.

During a media session with MotorLAT and other selected media, the Danish driver opened up on his feelings of returning in the paddock, and explained what he thought when he got the call from Haas team principal Guenther Steiner.

“I was in a happy place when Guenther [Steiner] called me, 2021 was really enjoyable for me you know, I had a daughter and I moved back to Denmark after many years.

“I did a season in IMSA, which I enjoyed a lot too, I had fun with IndyCar, I did LeMans with my dad, so I wasn’t really thinking about Formula 1 a lot, and I had kinda truly accepted that it was a closed chapter," he said.

“Then I saw that Mazepin was out of Haas, but I didn’t actually think I’d have a chance, so when Guenther called me it was a big surprise and I just felt really excited when he asked me if I wanted to come back.”

Magnussen then explained what convinced him to make his second comeback in F1, and how he managed to get out of his contract with Ganassi Racing.

“With this regulations change that F1 had this year I thought that it was a big opportunity to come back, it was too good to let it down and so I thought about the fact that I’m just 29 years old, there were not a lot of reasons to not take this opportunity.

“When Steiner called me I said yes immediately, straight away, but the afterwords the obstacles became quite clear. I had a contract with another team, also I had thoughts like ‘do I really need this or not?’, but I felt that the initial feeling I had when I got the call was so telling," the Dane stated.

“I have to say a big thank you by the way to Ganassi Racing for allowing me to do this, cause I had a contract with them, and they also have a big race next week, so they don’t have a lot of time to find a new driver and make other plans, I think it was really big.

“It’s not that I was missing Formula 1, you know I’ve been doing TV work for the f1 races, and it didn’t hurt, but I felt really excited to take this possibility and make another comeback. If you have this opportunity I think you should always grab it,” he added.

When he was asked to comment his previous words of not wanting to come back in F1 and race for a midfield team, he answered:

“I think it’s a thing that you say when you don’t have the opportunity to go back in F1, it’s a way of coping, there’s no reason to look back and say “I want to go back”, you always try to look forward, but when you get the opportunity you take it.”

Then he commented on his teammate, Mick Schumacher:

“So far I’ve had a very good impression of Mick, I’ve only met him twice, once in Abu Dhabi in 2020 and then today. He’s a F2 and a F3 Champions and he grew up with motorsport in his blood, so I’m looking forward to working with him.”