Kevin Magnussen believes McLaren were ‘disrespectful’ during his rookie season as they asked him to replicate the performance of Lewis Hamilton.
In 2014 Magnussen entered Formula 1 and replaced Sergio Perez but a year later was dropped for Fernando Alonso and then released at the end of 2015.
The Dane had shown promise and became the first debutant since Hamilton in 2007 to take a podium position in their first Grand Prix race.
In Australia in 2014 he qualified fourth but finished third, ahead of Hamilton, before being promoted to second when Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified.
He collected eleven further points throughout the year but it was not enough to retain his position at McLaren, being demoted to reserve driver.
Magnussen had 2009 world champion Jenson Button as his teammate, while Hamilton had also won a title with the manufacturer in 2008.
And a decade on the Dane claims that he had unfair expectations put on him by the team.
“I remember Jonathan [Neale, managing director] and Éric [Boullier, racing director] telling me: ‘Lewis was an average of 0.15sec faster than Jenson in qualifying over the three years they raced alongside each other, so, to retain your drive for next year, you should be aiming to beat Jenson by the same margin’,”Magnussen told Motor Sport Magazine.
“I accepted it at the time but, looking back, it was unfair.
“Lewis and Jenson were both F1 world champions, far more experienced than I was, and Jonathan and Éric were telling me that if I wasn’t as good in my rookie season as Lewis had been in his third, fourth and fifth F1 seasons, I’d be out.
