Magnussen: Rusty F1 drivers 'not big problem'

Kevin Magnussen remains hopeful Haas will keep him on board for 2021.

With the racing set to resume without spectators next month, the Dane says he is eager to emerge from the sport's shutdown period.

"I think I've used the break well," he told BT newspaper.

"I have been relaxing with Louise and keeping up with my training. But now it's long enough and I'm like a little kid waiting for it to come back."

But when the racing resumes, so too will the 'silly season'. Many drivers, Magnussen included, are out of contract at the end of 2020.

"The team has an option on me for 2021 and I hope they use it," he said. "I am sure that Haas will be a good place to be for years to come."

Magnussen said the reduced $145 million budget cap will help, but he warned that it is not a silver bullet for the smaller teams.

"It's still more than Haas spends, but it will force many of the other teams to cut back. So it puts us in a relatively stronger situation," he said.

He is also expecting 2020 to go well for the small American team.

"Our new car was promising in the winter as it seems like we solved the problems that plagued us last year," said Magnussen.

And he insisted he is not among those who are overly worried about how 'rusty' the entire Formula 1 grid will be after a seven month dearth of racing.

"I don't think that's going to be a big problem," Magnussen said.

"Ok, we haven't raced for a long time and it will be exciting to get started again, but it's also not long enough for us to forget how."

He said spectator-less 'ghost races' is not ideal, "but it's much, much better than not racing at all".

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