Eddie Jordan fears F1 veteran facing exit has ‘damaged his reputation’

Former F1 team owner Eddie Jordan fears Kevin Magnussen’s hopes of remaining on the grid for F1 2025 are slim after he “damaged his reputation” with some “crazy things” earlier this season.

Magnussen will leave Haas at the end of F1 2024, with the American team opting for an all-new driver pairing of Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon for next season.

Eddie Jordan fears for Kevin Magnussen’s F1 2025 chances

The Danish driver’s hopes of remaining in F1 appear low, with Alpine and Audi/Sauber the only outfits outside the two Red Bull teams and Mercedes still with vacancies for F1 2025.

Haas’s decision to release Magnussen came after he was widely criticised for a number of incidents earlier this season, with his aggressive defence against Lewis Hamilton in the Miami sprint race leaving him on the brink of triggering a race ban.

Another incident occurred just weeks later when he sparked a first-lap crash in Monaco with team-mate Nico Hulkenberg and Red Bull driver Sergio Perez, with Magnussen deemed fortunate to escape punishment.

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Hulkenberg announced in April that he will leave Haas for Sauber for F1 2025, becoming the first driver signing of the Audi F1 project ahead of the German manufacturer’s highly anticipated 2026 arrival.

Appearing on the Formula For Success podcast, Jordan claimed Magnussen’s occasional “flashes of brilliance” will not be enough to convince other team bosses to take a chance on him after an error-prone start to 2024.

He said: “Kevin has such flashes of brilliance, I still think there’s a place for him.

“I don’t know why but I put somebody like Hulkenberg and Magnussen [in a] pretty similar [category] in terms of driving style, their characters, the people [they are].

“I think Kevin damaged his reputation with some of the crazy things that he did earlier in the year.

“I’m not sure if that resonates with other team principals.”

Asked if Magnussen could yet follow Hulkenberg to Audi, Jordan suggested that it would be “far wiser” for the Swiss-based team to “hold on” after missing out on top target Carlos Sainz, who last week announced that he will race for Williams in 2025.

Audi are thought to be increasingly likely to retain current incumbent Valtteri Bottas as Hulkenberg’s F1 2024 team-mate ahead of potentially assessing the driver market again ahead of 2026.

Jordan said: “My guess is it’d be far wiser [for Audi] to hold on. Why do they need a second driver?

“They can hire people in to do whatever they need to do. All you’re doing is building up a wage packet and you’re building up a structure.

“Kevin, if you want to [go to Audi] that will be a good idea in many respects, but at the same time the financial gurus within Audi will be probably looking at what the cost of all this is.”

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