Kevin Magnussen believes that while Jenson Button is the most complete teammate he has ever had, Romain Grosjean is the fastest.

Magnussen raced alongside Button at McLaren in 2014, but was replaced by Fernando Alonso for the 2015 season.

The Dane then joined Renault for 2016, before moving to Haas in 2017 where he has partnered Grosjean since.

Magnussen told BT newspaper that Grosjean appeared to have a pace advantage over him in the second half of 2018, claiming that the Frenchman is the fastest teammate he’s come up against in Formula One.

“If you look at the whole package – human, chemistry, laptimes and so on – Jenson is the best teammate I’ve had. But there is no doubt that Romain is faster than Jenson.

“On one lap, Romain is exceptionally fast when it all goes well for him.

“It would have meant more to me if I had won it [the overall qualifying battle in 2018].

“Perhaps it means something if the big teams are looking at you, but I’m not advertising myself like that.”

Haas’ pace has been a surprise to many since they joined the sport in 2016, including to Magnussen himself.

“We are still a young team on a steep learning curve,” he explained.

“Perhaps we had a better car than we really expected. We were fighting in a higher weight class than the one we belonged to.

“But, it’s a luxury problem that shows how much talent and potential the team has.”

Grosjean made a triumphant return to form after initially struggling in 2018, and Magnussen believes this was down to Haas’ updates suiting his teammate better.

“Romain came back after a difficult period and it might have seemed like I took a step backwards,” said Magnussen.

“But that was not the case. He had just returned to his highest level.

“It is clear that with the update, Romain got a car that suited him very well.

“Overall it was better, but unlike Romain I could drive the old one too.

“In fact I have a hard time understanding that it made such a big difference to Romain.”

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