Kevin Magnussen could well be back with Renault Sport F1 Team next season, but his place is far from certain with his 2016 teammate Jolyon Palmer, Manor driver Esteban Ocon and even Williams’ Valtteri Bottas rumored for the second seat alongside newly signed Nico Hulkenberg.
One thing the talented 24-year-old Dane did opt to reject though was a RACER.com report out this week that Magnussen was in the frame for Andretti Autosport’s vacant fourth car in the Verizon IndyCar Series.
Magnussen’s father Jan raced in IndyCar – then called CART – on two occasions with Team Penske and Hogan/Penske Racing in 1996 and again with Patrick Racing in 1999, both in late-season cameos, before moving into sports cars where he’s carved a long-term successful career with Corvette Racing.
For the moment, the younger Magnussen is focusing on F1 first before any potential series switch, as he denied the rumors in a series of tweets on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately there is nothing yet to announce regarding my future, but hopefully there will be soon. I too am getting impatient!” Magnussen added in a third tweet, adding a smiley face and a “shoot himself” emoji afterwards.
This is not the first time Magnussen’s F1 future has been in doubt. Magnussen twisted in the wind in 2014 while waiting for McLaren to make its decision about whether he’d be retained, and instead, he was third driver with Fernando Alonso joining and Jenson Button continuing.
As Magnussen looks ahead to Austin this weekend, where he qualified seventh and finished eighth in 2014, he reflected on that run.
“I can remember holding on to the car when we were getting a lot of tire degradation at the end of the race and I finished in the points. That would be good this time too,” he said in the team’s advance release.
“I do love the United States and I know it well from visiting many times. The race in Austin is a great event and the circuit is really good. The fans really get behind you and I’m sure they’ll be out in force as the weather looks like it will be a lot better than all the rain we saw last year!”