Profile: Kevin Magnussen
20-year-old Danish racing ace Kevin Magnussen has a true racing pedigree, with his father being the former McLaren test and race driver Jan Magnussen.
Kevin, who joined the McLaren Young Driver programme in 2010, currently competes in the Formula Renault 3.5 Championship for DAMS. He also works under Gary Paffett and Oliver Turvey in our F1 simulator, helping to evaluate new technical developments throughout the year and to continuously improve the accuracy of our simulations.
After a successful career in karting, Kevin made the jump to single-seater open-wheel racing in the Danish Formula Ford. He won the overall championship with a hugely impressive record of 11 wins, 12 podiums, six pole positions and 10 fastest laps.
In 2009, Magnussen moved up to Formula Renault, finishing runner-up in the Northern European Cup and seventh in the Eurocup. In the NEC, he achieved one win, 12 podiums and two pole positions which earned him the title of ‘Rookie of the Year’.
The following year he took the opportunity to drive in the German Formula Three Championship, where he caught the eye immediately by taking victory in the opening round of the season. That was the first of three victories on his way to securing third in the championship and once again being named ‘Rookie of the Year’.
In 2011, Kevin moved on to British Formula 3 where he continued the success of the previous seasons, finishing second in the championship after securing seven race wins, six pole positions and eight fastest laps. As a result, Carlin signed him up for the 2012 Formula Renault 3.5 series season. Here, he won once, was on the podium three times and took six pole positions to finish seventh in the drivers’ championship, before moving on to DAMS.
Last year Kevin had the chance to drive the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-27 car at the Abu Dhabi young driver test. The distance during the course of that test was enough for him to earn his F1 superlicence.
Kevin's performance at his first outing in a modern F1 car was quite impressive; his outright pace was immediately strong and he supported that with consistent runs for the engineering program.
Kevin Magnussen Quick-fire Q&A
Q: What do you like to get up to in your spare time?
KM: I like listening to music, playing golf and karting.
Q: What is your favourite film?
KM: Anything that Will Ferrell is in!
Q: What is your favourite food?
KM: I like Indian food or a good pizza.
Q: What is your favourite drink?
KM: Orange juice.
