Magnussen eyes IndyCar switch following Haas F1 departure

Kevin Magnussen says he would be interested in a potential move to IndyCar after Haas confirmed it would not be retaining him for the 2021 Formula 1 season.

Ahead of the Portuguese Grand Prix on Thursday, Haas confirmed neither Magnussen nor Romain Grosjean will not remain with the team beyond this season.

The pair have been teammates since the start of 2017 and together they guided Haas to its best-ever season in 2018 where it finished fifth in the constructors’ championship.

With there being limited F1 seats available, Magnussen is looking elsewhere - IndyCar being his preferred choice.

“IndyCar has been something that I’ve been interested in always, my dad was an IndyCar driver back in the 90s,” Magnussen said. “I’ve been to IndyCar races with him as a small child and just always thought it was super cool. I would love to have a go in that sometime, but at the moment I think even outside of F1, the whole motorsport world is hit by the times we have this year and it doesn’t look easy to get good deals over there.

“So we’ll see. I’m not saying no to it at all, not saying it’s impossible, but it looks slightly difficult.”

Having spent a year with McLaren in 2014, Magnussen was forced to take a year off having been dropped for Fernando Alonso in 2015.

Zak Brown did say he would have been considered by his former employers if it hadn't already decided upon its IndyCar line up for 2021.

Ultimately, the Dane hopes he can avoid having another year off.

“I want to be racing, I’m a racer and as I said, I really miss going racing to win, Magnussen added. “I couldn’t see myself on the sidelines for a whole year at this point. I’m keeping my options open and speaking to all sorts of different teams and people.

“Who knows what can happen in Formula 1, I’ve learned over the years that you should never say never and should always keep your doors open. As I said I feel I still have more to give in F1, I’m still improving as a driver and over the last years with Haas I’ve grown a lot as a driver and with Romain we’ve been able to push each other.

“I’ve been able to learn a lot from him as well, and I feel I’m ready to take the next step at the same time as I find myself probably on the sidelines. But we’ll see.”