'Formula 1 cars are fantastic, but actually easy to drive'

After seven seasons, 119 Grands Prix and 158 points, Kevin Magnussen's Formula One career is over. At Haas, both he and teammate Romain Grosjean had to make way for young talent.

Excited about racing again

Next season Magnussen will compete in the IMSA SportsCar Championship where he will drive a Cadillac DPi-V.R for Ganassi Racing. Magnussen finds it a great new challenge. "I'm really enjoying the Cadillac," Magnussen told Autosport.com. "I feel like I'm getting back to the things that got me excited about being a race driver in the first place.”

Difference with Formula 1 cars

According to the Danish driver, driving the Cadillac is very different from driving an F1 car. "This might sound odd, but the car is not easy to drive and that's good," says the Danish driver. "Formula 1 cars are fantastic, obviously the fastest cars in the world, and I'm very thankful I achieved my dream of racing in Formula 1. But the cars are actually easy to drive. With the Cadillac there is much more that you control as the driver."

And then there's another important difference. "The sound! The Formula 1 engines sound kind of 'blah' these days. Hearing the engine behind you in the Cadillac, you know you're in a race car."

Competing to win

When Magnussen started his racing career, he only wanted one thing; to win races. "That's how you progress in your career: by winning races, but in Formula 1, unless you are with the top team or maybe the second team, you have no chance of winning."

The relationship with his teammates is also different from Formula One. "In Formula 1, your biggest opponent is your teammate. The best way to advance to one of the top teams is to beat your teammate, so you don't want to help him in case by helping him you hurt your career. This is different. I really enjoy working with Renger [van der Zande] and Scott [Dixon]. If you have questions or if they see something that can make you better, make you faster, they will do their best to help you. The same goes for me. It's a real team effort."