Remembering Kevin Magnussen’s Road America rodeo

Four years ago, a driver not long out of Formula 1 made his debut in IndyCar and managed to lead the race – and that man was none other than Danish Haas star Kevin Magnussen.

Magnussen was drafted in by Arrow McLaren SP in place of the injured Felix Rosenqvist for the race at arguably the most F1-like circuit that IndyCar currently competes on. Road America is a high-speed 4-mile road course although Magnussen was garnering experience on American tracks in IMSA already in 2021 following his (first) departure from Haas in December of 2020.

Of course, Magnussen had driven for McLaren in Formula 1 in 2014 before wisely deciding to leave after a year on the sidelines in 2015 to drive full-time at Renault and eventually Haas. Such was Magnussen’s experience that he gelled well with the much-changed McLaren despite having no prior testing with them but admitted that the IndyCar itself was a surprisingly difficult car to drive.

For the first time since his junior career, Magnussen was driving a car without power steering and he even reflected that the experience was just as intense as a Formula 1 Grand Prix. Perhaps his fitness may have dipped slightly after he had left F1 the previous winter for the less physically demanding sportscars of IMSA and that could have contributed to the difficulty Magnussen experienced through the high G-force turns of road America without any power steering.

Despite not driving an IndyCar until Free Practice 1 on the Friday of the Road America event, Magnussen was still able to show what he was capable of. 21st in qualifying was not all that bad considering that he finished above five full-time IndyCar drivers.

Starting so far back on the grid, Magnussen was naturally put an alternate strategy by Arrow McLaren SP in their efforts to promote him up the order. The Dane stayed out of trouble before – sure enough – he found himself in the lead of the race while out of sync with most other drivers‘ strategies and was able to stay in P1 for a handful of laps.

Unfortunately, the #7 McLaren broke down after 33 of the 55 laps and it was not to be the last Chevrolet-powered car to suffer on that particular summer’s day in Elkhart Lake as Josef Newgarden came to a halt with gearbox issues while leading the race just two laps from home. Newgarden’s heartbreak was arguably the most memorable part of the weekend as he ceded the win to Alex Palou but Magnussen’s cameo at the head of the grid was a nice bit of variety for those watching.

Any chance of Magnussen attempting IndyCar full-time was snuffed out by his shock return to Haas in 2022 and the 32-year-old is now fresh out of Formula 1 for the third and final time. Having committed to BMW in the World Endurance Championship and IMSA for 2025, it looks unlikely for now that Magnussen will return to IndyCar racing any time soon.

The only real hint he has made about an IndyCar return was that he would not consider racing the Indianapolis 500 unless it was with a top team and one of those surely would be the same McLaren squad he competed with at Road America back in 2021. With McLaren currently pre-occupied with three full-time drivers it seems that sportscar racing is the future of Magnussen’s post-F1 career unless things change dramatically but at least his IndyCar debut was an interesting highlight for both him and those watching.

written by Sol Ahmed / Media Credit: Penske Entertainment