24
M
AGNUSSEN
’
S AMAZING SEASON SAW HIM PROMOTED DIRECTLY TO THE
F
ORMULA
1
CHAMPIONSHIP
BY THE TEAM THAT RECRUITED HIM FOR THEIR JUNIOR PROGRAM A FEW YEARS AGO
2013 Winners
FROMWSR TO McLA
T
he World Series Renault 3.5 has produced another top
quality driver. In fact, Robin Frijns’ successor on the
honour board is Kevin Magnussen who, at the age of 21,
and in his second year in the championship, won the title for
team Dams in the Dallara. Magnussen, a pupil of the Maclaren
Academy, who will be partnering Jenson Button for the team in
the coming season, finished in the points in 15 of the 17 races,
winning five of them. But the title wasn’t wrapped up until the
last weekend, in Barcelona, when he was victorious in the first
of the two races on the Catalonian track. Magnussen’s main
rivals were Stoffel Vandoorne, also from the Junior McLaren
program, and Antonio Felix Da Costa, from the Red Bull Junior
project.
“
It was a very tough year, although maybe it doesn’t look that
way from the outside. In the end, the victory came thanks to the
consistency of our results, and the great reliability of my
Dallara, which was managed perfectly by team Dams. We had to
be on our toes at all times, because Vandoorne and Da Costa are
very capable rivals, but in the end we managed to keep our noses
in front. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve come on a lot since 2012,
concentrating a lot on the mental aspects. And it paid off,
because I’ve managed to eliminate a number of errors. I’m now
looking forward to the great challenge of F.1 with McLaren, one
of the greatest teams in the history of the world championship.
It was a bold move to select me as their new driver, and I intend
to do my utmost not to disappoint them”
.
