'Would have liked to have seen Magnussen alongside Verstappen at Red Bull'

Tom Kristensen thinks Kevin Magnussen could have been of great value as Max Verstappen's teammate at Red Bull Racing. Although the Danish analyst admits he may be biased, he still saw a bright future for his compatriot in Formula 1.

In the show F1 Talks from Viaplay, David Coulthard brings up the subject of Magnussen. The Scot opens the conversation by saying, "I think that Kevin's been an exciting racer. If I was, in my humble opinion, to levy a criticism, sometimes maybe a bit too aggressive at the expense of some contact. But you cannot take the DNA out of the individual."

Magnussen's career in F1 comes to an end?

"That fighting spirit is what enabled him to get a podium in his first ever Grand Prix with McLaren," Coulthard adds. In 2025, Magnussen will become a factory driver at BMW, where he will drive in IMSA and WEC. Still, Coulthard does not rule out a return to Formula 1: "With Cadillac coming, there could well still be a role for him. He's young enough."

Cadillac will join Formula 1 in 2026 and is still looking for an experienced driver to partner potential main candidate for a seat, Colton Herta, provided he can get the required points to aget a super license. However, Ferrari are also betting on experience with the signing of 39 year old seven time world champion, Lewis Hamilton. Thus Kristensen makes a case for a potential Magnussen comeback to F1.

After highlighting Valtteri Bottas' "third driver" role at Mercedes, and Guanyu Zhou holding talks with Ferrari about a potential reserve driver role for the Chinese driver, Krsitensen points to Magnussen as a candidate for Cadillac.

"Kevin could be a good addition to Cadillac," said Kristensen. "Being Danish, [I'm] probably biased in that sense. I could also see him at Red Bull next to Max. But you know, [a] thing like that is not going to happen." At the time this show was recorded, it was not yet known that Liam Lawson would become Sergio Perez's successor at Red Bull Racing.

This article was written in collaboration with Corwin Kunst

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