Of the three debutants in Formula One, Kevin Magnussen, is the man likely to draw the most attention and headlines over the coming year.
The Dane has been fast-tracked onto the grid by McLaren-Mercedes after he won the Formula Renault 3.5 Series last season, with the British team jettisoning Sergio Perez to make space for him.
The Magnussen name is not a new one to F1; his father, Jan, raced once for McLaren, in the Pacific Grand Prix, in 1995.
Jan’s F1 career was considered a disappointment as he raced only 25 times before leaving the series midway through 1998 after being dropped by Stewart. Considerably more is expected of his 21-year-old son.
The signs are good that he will deliver. Perez, while erratic, did not do an awful job in the below-par McLaren last year and would have been a more than serviceable option to stay on, alongside the 2009 world champion Jenson Button.
But McLaren see potential greatness in Magnussen’s racing and did not hesitate in elbowing Perez out of the way to make it happen.
Now Magnussen has to repay that faith. From testing it appears he does not have a race-winning car, yet, but a car that should be competing for podium and top-10 finishes.
Where Magnussen can make an immediate impact is in qualifying.
Saturday afternoons are not Button’s strongest area, as evidenced by the fact that Perez out-qualified him in 10 of 19 races last season.
If Magnussen, who topped the times in test sessions in both Jerez and Bahrain, can replicate that speed and start ahead of Button on the grid in the opening races it will allow his confidence to grow, and also give him a track-position advantage.
Button is expected to benefit from a new era of F1, where managing fuel consumption and tyre wear will be as crucial as raw speed. Magnussen could learn much from Button, who at the same time is someone the young driver might be able to beat.
Button is one of the most grounded drivers in the F1 paddock, and as long as Magnussen does not collide with him, as Perez did, they should get along just fine.
If one were to pick a world-champion teammate for a rookie year, Button would be most people’s choice.
Hamilton? Too fast. Alonso? Too fast and known for not playing well with others in same team. Raikkonen? Fast, but his quiet nature means learning from him is hard. Just ask Romain Grosjean about their two years together at Lotus.
Button is ideal. He is quick, but his raw pace is not astounding. His skill is in setting up a car well and adjusting to variable conditions, things Magnussen will do to pick up on.
The first person any driver must beat is his teammate. It is the measuring stick, particularly if you do not have a race-winning car at your disposal.
Magnussen may not be able to win races this year if the McLaren does not prove a match for Mercedes-GP, but beating a world champion in your first season in the same car would be a loud statement of intent and, judging by his testing times, it is something Magnussen is more than capable of doing.
Toro Rosso have proven it can be a stepping stone to better things in F1, with both current Red Bull Racing drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo, impressing in their stints there.
Daniil Kyvat will have a hard task making an immediate impact with them, however, with this year’s STR9 chassis struggling in testing, aligned to the fact they have the unreliable Renault engines to contend with, too.
Kvyat, the 19-year-old Russian, has talent, unquestionably, having won the GP3 series last year, wrapping up the title at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November.
He will be hard-pressed to demonstrate that, though, at least early in the 19-race season.
While Kvyat faces a difficult time, it could be worse. He could be driving for Caterham.
That is the fate of Marcus Ericsson, the Swedish driver, who partners Kamui Kobayashi at the perennial tail-end team.
Caterham have yet to score a point in four seasons of F1, and it is a sad indictment that their chances of breaking through this year have been improved.
It is not because Caterham have a stronger package, but because the expected unreliablilty of the new V6 turbo engines could create situations where back markers finish in the points.
Ericsson spent three relatively unremarkable years in GP2 before getting his F1 break, and his target, like that of Magnussen, will be to get the better of a more-experienced teammate, given the poor machinery he will have at his disposal.
gcaygill@thenational.ae
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