Analysing McLaren’s Decision to Replace Sergio Perez with Kevin Magnussen

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: August 26, 2014

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When McLaren confirmed the signing of Kevin Magnussen last November, it sent the most damning of messages to Sergio Perez.

Only 13 months earlier, the Mexican had been anointed as the successor of Lewis Hamilton, the team's most successful and recognisable driver in recent years and was charged with taking McLaren into a bright new era.

After only 17 grand prix weekends, however, the team had seen enough.

They decided that his target of winning the world championship, as he explained to Sky Sports' Pete Gill on his very first day at McLaren's headquarters, was little more than a pipe dream. 



Perez had enjoyed a decent enough season with the car he had been provided—some handy races, some poor races—but was not considered to be a McLaren man.

A good grand prix driver? A podium contender? Of course.

A race winner? Possibly.

But multiple race winner? A world champion? A multiple world champion?

Not in the slightest.

McLaren's decision to reshuffle their driver line-up, then, revealed as much about their hopes for Magnussen as their disappointment with Perez. 

As reported by BBC Sport's Andrew Benson at the time, Magnussen, who had just sealed the Formula Renault 3.5 title, was thought by the team to be a future champion of the world.



McLaren's suspicions were given increased credibility after the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, where the Danish driver inherited second place after an assured drive from fourth on the grid.

The ease of his performance led to obvious comparisons with Hamilton, the last graduate of McLaren's driver development program, whose similarly impressive debut at the Albert Park circuit in 2007 was a precursor for what was to come.

The struggles endured by both driver and team since Australia, however, have cast Magnussen's campaign in a more ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Formula 1

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