In the seven years since Kevin Magnussen in Formula 1, from 2014 to 2020, the Danish driver was able to live his career in the top flight at the wheel of three different cars: between the two seasons spent in McLaren and the four in Haas, Jan’s son – he too in Formula 1 in the 90s – he competed in the world championship 2016 under the Renault, just in the year in which the French house made its return to the Circus as a builder. However, despite the good initial conditions, the relationship with the Enstone team broke abruptly in the ongoing world championship, thanks to the increasingly evident frictions with the then director the CEO of the team, Cyril Abiteboul.
The Dane himself, now engaged in the IMSA, retraced one of his major ones with the transalpine manager in his book ‘All or Nothing’; in this case, Magnussen recounted the moment of the divorce between him and Renault, characterized by signs with Haas for 2017. In that case, a verbal confrontation between the two took place, with the former McLaren accusing him of having spread the news of the agreement with the US team. as the consequence of a sacking from Renault, and not as a voluntary choice by the driver to leave the team: “When Kevin Magnussen joined Renault in 2016 – he wrote about himself – Cyril Abiteboul told him he was the future of the team. Mind you, already at the beginning of the season he passed him and did not recognize him, did not speak to him or greet him on weekends. After Kevin told Frédéric Vasseur he was breaking his one-year deal with Renault to join Haas, Abiteboul called him to say that Jolyon Palmer had been selected for the next season. “.
Upon hearing this statement, Magnussen met with Renault’s chief executive, openly criticizing him for the move: “Kevin he told Abiteboul he was like a schoolboy that he wanted to pretend he was the one who fired Magnussen. Cyril then sent out a press release saying Renault had preferred Palmer to him. Kevin then gave an interview in which he said that Renault had offered its place to almost everyone, even citing the Pope as a joke. Renault threatened to sue him for that comment, receiving a written warning not to talk about it again ”.
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