Former Haas driver Kevin Magnussen has claimed that he had an opportunity to join Red Bull or Toro Rosso back in 2019 - after Daniel Ricciardo departed the former to join Renault. The Dane describes how, for a moment, he was viewed as a leading candidate for a seat at Toro Rosso, with Pierre Gasly's promotion to Red Bull leaving a vacant seat open. “When we spoke to them, it quickly became clear that they had a candidate for the Red Bull seat (Pierre Gasly)," Magnussen told Danish outlet B.T. "But they mentioned that there would be a vacancy for Toro Rosso. It was not a question of them submitting a contract or the like, but it was clearly an option". At the end of 2018, Magnussen was arguably in the form of his life, as the 28-year-old was frequently the lead driver in the midfield behind the big three teams. It is interesting to note that accepting the offer would have possibly blocked Alex Albon's move to Toro Rosso, which would have then left Magnussen in pole position to land the Red Bull drive after Gasly's 2019 struggles. "We chose not to pursue the opportunity because I was really happy with Haas and believed that we could continue the positive development we had through 2018," Magnussen concluded.
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