After Haas terminated Nikita Mazepin’s contract in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Magnussen was🐠 offered a call-up to make a surprise return to F1 with Haas after a year out. 

Steiner said Haas was met with “a lot” of interest over the spare seat but confirmed Magnussen was the only driver the team officially talkedᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ to after quickly deciding he was the obvious first choice. 

“When what happened, happened, we parted company with Nikita, I was discꦗussing with Gene who to put in the car, who’s available,” Steiner explained. “The same old story, ups and downs and lefts and rights. 

“Kevi🍷n’s name came up, and Gene said do you think Kevin would come back? And I said I have no idea, I don’t know, but I can call him up and Iﷺ called him up, and he said yeah, I’m interested.”

Magnussen previously raced for Haas between 201💟7 and 2020 and Steiner believes the Dane’s experience and knowledge of how the American outfit operates will prove a valuable asset, especially with the short turnaround before the season start on March 20.

“I think there are a fe🌳w advantagꦓes here, having him, he was here in the team [before],” Steiner added. “We have got only a week before the first race actually. He knows the team, he’s well respected. He knows his way around. 

“I think it’s good for Mick as well to ha♑ve a reference, b༒ecause he has been in Formula 1, he did six seasons, all these things came together, and then we said I think he’ll be the best choice. 

“But at that time, I didn’t know if he was available or if he wanted to drive, and even if he wanted to drive, I didn’t know if he could drive, because he had contracts in place and I didn’t know t🍃he details of his contracts. But then it went pretty smooth.” 

Magnussen is due to drive 🌌the VF-22 for the first time during Friday's se🐷cond session at Bahrain.