(McLaren Mercedes)
McLaren Group chairman Ron Dennis believes that he made the right decision to promote Kevin Magnussen to the race seat vacated by Sergio Perez and is confident that the Danish driver has what it takes to be world champion in the future.
Speaking ahead of this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix Dennis, who returned to the role of McLaren Group CEO in January he said: 'He has all the ingredients necessary to win the world championship but he has to be in a competitive car'.
Dennis also confirmed that there were points during 2013 where he stepped in to the decision making process and that it was his choice to promote Magnussen from the Woking outfit's Young Driver Programme.
At first glance, it would appear to have been an inspired move as in his first every Grand Prix start last weekend in Melbourne the Dane out-qualified team mate Jenson Button and went on to finish ahead of Jenson Button in the race as the team scored a double podium.
Dennis was full of praise for Button saying of Magnussen: 'He has a phenomenal mentor in Jenson, they get on very well. He will keep Jenson honest.
Dennis was extremely impressed with Magnussen and said: 'He made no mistakes at all throughout the weekend. He never put a wheel off the track, followed all instructions but pushed very hard at the right times'.
Dennis has cautioned though that although Magnussen drove a great race on Sunday that he can not be judged on just one result and they will see where he is after four races. Magnussen has joined a very select group as only 17 driver's have managed to appear on the podium on their Formula One debut, the last of which ironically was former McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton in 2007. He went on to win the championship in 2008 so it is possible that Magnussen could emulate Hamilton's success.
He (Magnussen) is only the ninth driver to driver to have finished second on the podium on his F1 debut.
Dennis was all the more impressed by Magnussen's performance as he was able to manage the new regulations perfectly and he has stated that he is pleased that on this occasion it would appear that he has made the right call by giving Magnussen a shot at F1.
©Ben Johnston 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment