Tense exchanges between Kevin Magnussen and Renault

Not all divorces are amicable, and the one between Kevin Magnussen and Renault is there to attest to that.

Thus, the first to speak out was Cyril Abiteboul, who didn’t hesitate to question his former driver’s professionalism in the pages of Auto Hebdo: « Personally, Magnussen disappointed me. Both in his performance and his behavior. He has real talent but isn’t disciplined and focused enough and is in search of too many excuses. »

The general manager of the French team did not fail to draw a comparison with his second driver, Jolyon Palmer, whom he ultimately chose to retain despite a complicated start to the season: « We have had many GPs where Palmer was nowhere on Friday to regularly improve and Magnussen was immediately good only to collapse just as regularly. This has been confirmed throughout the season. »

The response from the person concerned was swift, and he took advantage of his first media day at the headquarters of his new team, Haas, to respond via an interview given to Sky Sports: « I think it’s easy to say that someone is making excuses. I said what I had to say and made my opinion clear on certain things, and he wasn’t happy about it. That’s fine with me, I can’t stop him from being unhappy with me, but it became a public matter, which I somewhat regret. I prefer that when someone is unhappy, they keep it between themselves and the person in question, which he did not do. »

But the response from the new Haas driver didn’t stop there, and he used the formula to his advantage, the best defense is a good offense, by replying: “That’s in the past. There’s no reason for me to dwell on the problems they have. It doesn’t matter much anymore. What matters is that we beat them and I think we can do it.”

He then launched the final attack against his former employer: « With all the problems they have, it will take them a long time to improve. »

For a driver who has been with two major teams during his first two seasons, McLaren, then Renault, being in a smaller structure like Haas makes a big difference. But he believes it avoids the political issues that can paralyze the team: « I have seen that resources can’t do everything. You can have a lot of people, but if they don’t work together, it doesn’t mean much. So going back to a smaller racing team shows how it should really work. You simply can’t throw a huge number of people at a project and expect it to work. It’s been interesting to see the difference. »

This shows that the departure of the Dane was not by mutual consent, as was suggested during Frédéric Vasseur’s exit.

With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr