IndyCar switch looking "difficult" – Magnussen

Kevin Magnussen believes it will be difficult to move to IndyCar next year due to the impact COVID-19 is having on racing teams and their budgets.

The Dane is available for 2021 after being dropped by Haas; the U.S.-based team having also cut Romain Grosjean loose in favor of an all-new driver line-up next year. Magnussen came close to a switch to IndyCar back in 2015 when he was McLaren’s reserve before he was required to stand in for Fernando Alonso at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, and while he retains an interest in racing in the States, he thinks the timing might be against him.

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“IndyCar has been something that I’ve been interested in always,” Magnussen said. “My dad was an IndyCar driver back in the '90s. I’ve been to IndyCar races with him as a small child, and just always thought it was super cool.

“I would love to have a go in that sometime, but at the moment I think even outside of F1, the whole motorsport world is hit by the times we have this year and it doesn’t look easy to get good deals over there. So we’ll see. I’m not saying no to it at all, not saying it’s impossible, but it looks slightly difficult.”

Given the situation and the timing of the announcement, Magnussen said he is open to all options and wants to be in race-winning machinery if possible, but conceded that he lacks the sort of budget some F1 drivers can bring.

“I would say that I’m very open to anything at the moment," he said. "For sure, I feel that I have more to bring in Formula 1. I’m only 28 years old and I still feel I have more to give in F1, but we’ll see. There’s not a lot of seats left.

“I really miss winning, I miss the feeling of winning races, and that’s kind of really something that I’ve started to think about quite a lot recently; how much I miss that. We’ll see where that opportunity is and what comes my way. And then I’ll take the decision sometime.

“I can’t bring the kind of backing you need in Formula 1. I have sponsors and I have partners, but it’s not at all big in this world. It’s not enough to make a difference for me. I’m not going to speak for the team. Guenther (Steiner) and Gene (Haas) and the team can do that, they can tell you why they did what they did. But certainly, I can’t bring what a lot of drivers can bring out there.”