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Magnussen setting his sights on top F1 teams
Formula Renault 3.5 champion Kevin Magnussen says he is ready to step up to the very highest level of the sport and would not feel daunted if he was given the opportunity to race for McLaren as a rookie.
Magnussen is a member of the McLaren young driver scheme and team principal Martin Whitmarsh has made clear that he wants to find a seat for him somewhere on the grid in 2014. Marussia is a likely destination, but Magnussen is keen on the challenge of racing for a bigger team.
"If I get the chance with a big team it would be because they expect me to deliver results," he said. "I would only be chosen for a good team if they think that I'm the best solution, so of course they would expect that. But I feel ready, I've won in everything I've driven so why would that stop in Formula One?
"For sure I would like to win. So I would definitely like to be as high up the grid as I could be. If I was in a car that could win I would feel more happy. It's obvious, I would be able to win so I would prefer that."
Magnussen is a regular in McLaren's simulator at Woking, but his on track experience is limited to 91 laps at last year's young driver test at Abu Dhabi and 100 laps at this year's test at Silverstone. In previous years, drivers such as Lewis Hamilton have enjoyed multiple days of testing ahead of their F1 debut, but Magnussen says he is as ready as he can be under the current testing restrictions.
"I'd love to do the same," he said of Hamilton's route to the top of F1. "But things are a bit different these days, it's never going to be the same because things have changed.
"I think if I could test all year this year and every week it would make me more ready. So when I say I'm ready it's because I feel ready, but I'm not ready in the same way drivers were 10 years ago because they were testing all the time. I don't think any driver will be as ready as that again because it's changed."
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