Kevin Magnussen

Kevin Magnussen started his Formula 1 career in the best possible way: second in his very first race. The son of Jan Magnussen, who also raced in F1, the Dane born in Roskilde in 1992 joined McLaren in 2014 and stood on the podium on his debut in Australia, a result he would never repeat.

McLaren did not keep him and in 2015 he was a reserve driver. After a year at Renault, he joined Haas in 2017, the team he is most associated with: he shared the garage with Romain Grosjean for four seasons and in 2018 had his best year, ninth in the championship with 56 points. His way of defending position, hard and right at the edge of the rules, earned him a reputation and more than one argument with his rivals.

Haas let him go at the end of 2020, but the story had an unexpected second act. In 2022 the team called him back days before the season began, and Magnussen finished fifth in Bahrain in his first race after the return. That same year he took Haas's first ever pole, in Brazil. In 2024 he collected so many penalty points that he had to serve a race ban, the first since the system was introduced. It was his last season in Formula 1.

One podium and one pole: a short record on paper for a driver nobody on the grid wanted behind them.