McLaren Replaces Sergio Perez With Little Kid For 2014

After one lackluster season, Sergio Perez is out at McLaren. Today, McLaren confirmed that his replacement would be little boy Kevin Magnussen, a Dane who won this year's Formula Renault 3.5 championship.

Magnussen will be McLaren's first rookie driver since they brought Lewis Hamilton on-board in 2007, and 21-year old Magnussen sounds much like Lewis did when he got the ride with McLaren:

I'm absolutely overjoyed to be making my Formula 1 debut with McLaren. I'll put it simply: this team is the best. It's been my dream to drive for McLaren ever since I was a small kid, and it's no exaggeration to say that I've dedicated almost every day of my life to achieving the goal of becoming a McLaren Formula 1 driver.

You might be wondering why McLaren didn't pursue a driver like Nico Hulkenberg, Felipe Massa, or Paul di Resta for the seat. There are a number of reasons. First of all, Magnussen will not require a huge salary, which is good for McLaren as Vodafone leaves and they haven't announced a new title sponsor yet. Also, the regs change to aero and turbo engines next year make it the perfect time to try a rookie. Knowledge with the current car won't be as much of a help with the 2014 car as it normally would.

Magnussen has been promising in the lower formulas, so why not bring him up and see what happens? I'm also jealous of Magnussen, since when I was 21 I was out drinking or playing Rock Band, I wasn't accomplishing things with my life. Damn these young ambitious kid.