Who is Jan Magnussen? Kevin Magnussen has become the talk of the town after his sensational F1 comeback, but did you know that his father Jan Magnussen was also a Formula 1 driver?
This past Sunday, Formula 1 provided race fans with some thrilling surprises at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Ferrari came out victorious, grabbing a 1-2 finish with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz taking the top two steps on the podium. Lewis Hamilton finished third after the Red Bull duo of Serio Perez and Max Verstappen suffered engine issues towards the end of the race.
However, just behind the front line, one Kevin Magnussen stole the limelight as he finished P5 behind Mercedes’ George Russell, on his return to the sport after more than a year away. He did that in a Hass, a team that failed to manage a single point during last season.
While celebrations were for Haas and Kevin Magnussen, the Danish racing driver received a special mention from his father, Jan Magnussen as well. Magnussen Sr. took to Twitter to congratulate his son on returning to F1 with a bang.
After Kevin and Haas parted ways in 2020, Jan urged his son not to give up on his F1 dream. So, in a way, Jan deserves plenty of credit for keeping his son motivated during the lows. And now fans are curious to know more about Kevin’s father, Jan Magnussen, who was also an F1 driver in his heyday.
Who is Jan Magnussen? Brief racing history and honours
Jan Magnussen was born on July 4th, 1973 in Roskilde, Denmark. As a youngster, Jan was inclined towards racing and fast became one of the bright stars to watch out for when he won the 1990 Formula A World Championship at Jesolo.
Rising up through the ranks, he then went on to claim victory at the 1992 Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. Jan Magnussen then went on to dominate in Formula 3, and can proudly claim that he surpassed Ayrton Senna’s record of winning 14 of the 18 events at the 1993 British Formula 3 championship while driving a Paul Stewart.
His breakthrough in F1 came just a year later as a test driver for McLaren. Jan stood in for the unwell Mika Hakkinen at the 1995 Pacific GP in Aida. In his first F1 race, Jan qualified McLaren to 12th position and managed to finish an impressive 10th on race day.
Jan eventually got a permanent F1 seat with Stewart in 1997 but had a rather underwhelming time with the team. He finished 7th in Monaco in 1997 and a career-best 6th in Austria the following year. It wasn’t enough to save his F1 seat. In 27 entries, he managed to score just one point, which came in his final race like an F1 driver, at the 1998 Canadian GP. He was replaced by Jos Verstappen.
Following his F1 stint, Jan was eager to rebuild his racing career and won the 1999 and 2000 American Le Mans race with Panoz.
Jan then began to participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race every year since 1999. He started off with Panoz Motorsport and then joined Audi Sport Japan Team in 2003 where his team finished 2nd.
However, it took him just a year to win the title with Corvette Racing. Jan and the team then successfully defended their title for two more years in a row. The Dane helped Corvette finish 2nd in 2007 and 2008 as well before winning the title again in 2009.
Jan continued to race for Corvette until 2019 before parting ways with the team. In 2020, he raced for JMW Motorsport and last year, took part in the annual race with High Class Racing. It remains to be seen which team he will race for this year.
Who is Jan Magnussen? Personal life and kids
While not much is known about Jan Magnussen’s previous wife Brett Peterson. We know that she is the mother of Jan’s eldest son, Kevin Magnussen.
In 2004, Jan Magnussen married Christina Bergendahl. Jan has two children with Christina – Luca and Millie. Christian often posts images of her family on social media at festivals and occasions.
Despite being 48 years old, Jan Magnussen continues to race. He expects to do so for a long time to come. He will be looking to take part in the annual 24 Hours of Le Man’s race later this year as well.
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