Carlos Sainz secured Ferrari their second win in a row at the Mexico City Grand Prix, but another driver’s performance has perhaps gone under the radar. Haas have taken a huge stride forward in 2024 under team principal Ayao Komatsu, having recently leapfrogged Visa Cash App RB into sixth in the Constructors’ Championship. The American outfit have scored 46 points after 20 Grand Prix this season, with Nico Hulkenberg scoring the majority of them with 31.

The German is enjoying a brilliant 2024 campaign as he sits in 10th in the drivers’ standings heading into the next round in Brazil. His teammate Kevin Magnussen has faired a much more difficult campaign. Before the Mexico City Grand Prix, the Dane had only beaten Hulkenberg on three occasions and had just eight points to his name.

Photo by Peter Fox – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty ImagesMagnussen was suspended from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after accumulating 12 penalty points on his superlicense and was replaced by Oliver Bearman who went on to finish 10th. The Brit will replace the 32-year-old full-time at Haas in 2025. But in Mexico City, Magnussen took advantage of Haas’ surge in performance as he got his car into Q3 and lined up seventh for the race.

After avoiding the first lap carnage that wiped out Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda at turn one, the Dane held station to come home seventh. Kevin Magnussen is ‘going out on a high’ after Mexico City performanceThe result marks Magnussen’s best finish of the season and only the fourth time he has beaten Hulkenberg in a Grand Prix. In fact, it is the 32-year-old best finish since the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2022 where he finished fifth.

In the midst of the standout drives at the front of the pack, James Hinchcliffe picked out Magnussen for his performance which he labelled as his ‘strongest all-round weekend in a long time. ’READ MORE: Haas driver Kevin Magnussen’s life outside F1 from wife and daughters to net worthHinchcliffe wrote in his column on the F1 website: “Having an uncertain future in the sport has clearly not dimmed Magnussen’s motivation in the slightest. “The Dane had one of his strongest all-round weekends in a long time and brought home his best result since his F1 comeback race two years ago in Bahrain.

“Having the measure of team mate Nico Hulkenberg in qualifying – which has been rarer in 2024 than he would have liked – he made a good start and stayed ahead of the RB/Williams/Alpine melee that unfolded directly behind him. “From there it was a quiet race, but one where he and the team maximised the package and capitalised on the opportunity to get another good haul of points in the constructors’ battle. His time at Haas may be coming to an end (again!

) but he is doing his part to go out on a high. ”Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty ImagesIs there a chance Kevin Magnussen can stay in F1 in 2025? Haas will field an entirely new driver pairing for the 2025 season in Bearman and Esteban Ocon.

Hulkenberg will be making the move to Sauber in a deal that will see him become an Audi factory driver in 2026. Magnussen is yet to confirm his future, with speculation growing as to where he could end up. Sauber have the only vacant seat left for 2025, which would be a good fit for him considering he is familiar with Hulkenberg and will give the Swiss team an experienced head in the cockpit.

However, Sauber are looking at several other candidates including the likes of Mick Schumacher, Franco Colapinto and Gabriel Bortoleto. As a result, it is more than likely that 2026 will be the year Magnussen is seen back in an F1 car. Magnussen has stressed that his F1 career is ‘definitely not over’ and there will be a possible opening at Alpine next season if the French outfit decides to move on from Jack Doohan.

Whatever the case, it is difficult to judge where Magnussen will go next in F1, and most importantly, when.