Kevin Magnussen and the rookie syndrome

In Australia, Kevin Magnussen, at the age of 21, won his first podium for his first race in F1. Since then, the Dane has not reissued this performance. If the MP4-29 seemed a little behind the other single-seaters equipped with the turbo/hybrid V6 Mercedes, Eric Boullier, competition director also notes the difficulty that all young people today go through when they arrive in F1. “Kevin is facing rookie syndrome. They all come from monotype formulas, explains the Frenchman. They struggle more to understand that the cars they have must be tuned to give you certain results. If you don't have the best car, you can't fight for victory. »

The former Lotus Team Principal also explains that his new protégé is fully prepared and efficient in his new environment, despite his young age. “I don't think it is more difficult to have a rookie driver rather than two experienced drivers. When you have someone more experienced like Jenson (Button), you get more details, and you have to worry about more things to find solutions. Today's young people, especially like Kevin, can do most of the work and provide enough feedback to answer some of the engineers' questions. But the rest is fine to be honest: he's very consistent, and his feedback is enough to direct his engineers to make the car faster, so he's doing very well for a rookie. »

During the last Monaco Grand Prix, Kevin Magnussen, as well as Jenson Button, returned to the points, which had never happened to the team of Woking from Malaysia.