Formula 1: Haas have no reason not to re-sign Kevin Magnussen

Haas have no reason not to re-sign Kevin Magnussen for the 2019 Formula 1 season and beyond given his success so far this year.

Fourth-year Formula 1 driver Kevin Magnussen, who began driving for Haas at the start of last season, is in the midst of his career-best season in Formula 1. However, he does not yet have a contract to continue driving for the team in the 2019 season.

But as the 2018 season winds down, the lone American team in Formula 1 have no reason not to re-sign the 25-year-old Dane to a new contract, possibly a multi-year contract.

Magnussen has finished 12 of the 13 races that have been contested so far this season, and his lone retirement only came as a result of a wheel issue in the season opener, the Australian Grand Prix. He was running in fourth place when he was forced to retire.

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In the 12 races that Magnussen has finished so far this season, he has racked up eight top 10 finishes, including two season-high fifth place finishes in the Bahrain Grand Prix and the Austrian Grand Prix.

In the 2016 and 2017 seasons, Magnussen secured only seven combined top 10 finishes, and he finished no higher than seventh place in any individual races.

Magnussen’s rookie season was the 2014 season, and he finished 18 of the 19 races that were contested that season. In his Formula 1 debut, which he made in the 2014 Australian Grand Prix, he finished in a career-high second place. He went on to secure a total of 11 top 10 finishes that season en route to an 11th place finish in the driver standings.

He did not compete in Formula 1 in the 2015 season.

However, while the 2018 season has not resulted in any second place finishes or even a second career top four finish for Magnussen, it has been by far his best season yet. Only five of his top 10 finishes in the 2014 season were top eight finishes, yet he has already secured six top eight finishes this season.

Magnussen has been in a tight battle to be the “best of the rest” this season behind the six Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Scuderia Ferrari and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing drivers. With 49 points, he sits three points behind Renault Sport’s Nico Hulkenberg (52 points) for seventh place in the driver standings.

In the 2014 season, Magnussen scored 55 points, meaning he must secure just seven more points through the remaining eight races of the 2018 season to set a new career-high point total. One more top six finish, of which he has already recorded four this year, will take care of that since sixth place finishes are worth eight points.

Magnussen will likely shatter his previous career-high point total, as in the last six races alone, he has scored 30 points, which is the highest point total among the mid-pack drivers and trails only the point totals of the six Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing drivers during that span.

With rumors that Magnussen may even potentially be an option for Ferrari to sign within the next few years, it would make no sense for Haas not to re-sign him for at least another season. They would have a hard time finding a driver of his caliber with whom to replace him if they opt to release him.

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Will Haas re-sign Kevin Magnussen to continue driving for the team through at least the 2019 Formula 1 season? If so, will they sign him to a one-year contract or a multi-year contract?

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