Former Haas F1 driver Kevin Magnussen commented that the current F1 cars are amazing to drive, but that they lack ‘a little bit of soul’ despite the fantastic performance and technology that is the best in the world.
Magnussen joined Haas in 2017 and spent four seasons with Grosjean as a teammate, but Haas will have a completely new driver line-up from 2021 with last year’s F2 drivers Mazepin and Schumacher.
The Dane turned to the American series of sports cars IMSA and recently tested the Cadillac DPi-V.R prototype for the first time at Sebring, which delighted him, just like the Sebring track, which is a true representative of the old school track.
“I’ve been driving an airplane, basically, for the last six or seven years,” said Magnussen.
“Which is awesome – driving an F1 car is great fun, but it lacks a little bit of soul.”
“There’s something missing. F1 used to have that, but coming back and driving the Cadillac DPi has been a real eye opener.”
“The sound and the way the engine responds – even the track. Sebring, it doesn’t get more old school than this. It’s kind of a dream come true.”
“It’s been smooth, a really good first day in the car. The team has been great in helping me get to grips with everything.”
“Everything I look at here is new to me. The whole car, of course, but even the language they use to talk about the car, and all the systems, and setup-wise, the language is really different.”
“I feel at home straight away. It’s been awesome to drive a real race car again.”
Cadillac DPi-V.R has 5,5-litre naturally aspirated V8 with 600 HP and the car has 930 kg with driver included.
“Every time I touched the throttle, I got goose bumps,” he said.
“This is what it’s all about. This is where the passion started. It comes from things like the sound and the smell and the looks. You Americans have that as such an integrated part of sport.”
“I just missed that and didn’t realize how much I missed it until I got out of the car. Such simple delivery of the torque. You touch the throttle and it’s there immediately; no delays. It’s doing what you want.”
“You just want to overrev the engine every time you brake because it sounds so great.”
