Haas’ Kevin Magnussen has revealed that he’s not too keen on his two-year-old daughter taking up racing, with the Dane knowing all too well that “it’s a big risk to dedicate your life” to motorsport.
Magnussen has been surrounded by racing his entire life, with the Dane’s father having raced in F1 for McLaren and Stewart in the 90s.
Jan Magnussen continues to race today in sportscars, with his son joking to Sportskeeda that: “Yeah, it seems if you are a boy and a Magnussen, you have to race and there is no way around it,” he laughed.
Now that the 30-year-old has a daughter, the Haas driver knows that one day he will be in the position where his child asks him if she can take up racing, something he’s hoping won’t happen despite the “big push” to get a female into F1.
READ: Lewis Hamilton called ‘eight-time World Champion’ by Mercedes sponsor
“You have to ask them but there’s been no female Magnussens in motorsports so far,” Magnussen said.
“To be honest, there’s part of me that hopes my kids won’t get into racing. There’s a bit of an opportunity right now if you’re a girl and you’re into racing, and I think there’s a big push and almost like an opportunity.”
Given that he made his debut in F1 back in 2014 for McLaren, Magnussen has been around for long enough to know the substantial risks of racing.
He’s seen an incredible amount happen in his career, most notably his former team-mate Romain Grosjean’s fireball crash at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Part of him hopes that he can enjoy racing with his daughter whilst another part is hopeful that it’ll never happen, give that when things go wrong in motorsport “it can be tough”.
READ: Yuki Tsunoda gives blunt assessment of AlphaTauri
“I hope not,” said Magnussen.
“I am very passionate about racing and there is a part of me that would love to get into racing with my kids, but there’s also a lot of risk both physically.
“I don’t know, it’s a big risk to dedicate your life to getting into a sport that has 20 spots. You sacrifice a lot of things and if doesn’t go right it can be tough.”