Magnussen to focus on racing after confirming 2018 plans

Kevin Magnussen says that he is very happy to focus on racing and not have any lingering distractions, such as the danger of losing his seat at Haas. Last month, the team confirmed that it would keep its lineup of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen for 2018, despite a couple of Ferrari youngsters waiting in the wings.

2017 is Magnussen's third year in F1 having spent one-year stints at McLaren and Renault. So far this year, he has picked 11 points with a best finish of seventh, which came at the hectic Azerbaijan Grand Prix. When Gene Haas confirmed the news that Magnussen would be sticking around, the Dane admits it wasn't a surprise.

"I knew when I signed the contract there were two years, so it’s not news for me but it’s good of Gene to tell everyone," Magnussen said. "Now [usually] we will have the questions so hopefully no more of those kind of questions for the rest of the season.

"It’s nice to be in that situation because for the last two seasons I’ve done in Formula 1 it’s been always frustrating to talk about contracts every races in the last part of the season. Now, it’s clear what the plan is so we can focus on racing and just push freely and not worry about anything, just go racing as hard as I can."

Fergal Walsh