Formula 1's Latest Rumours, Talk: Kevin Magnussen to Renault, McLaren and More

Kevin Magnussen's Formula One career came to a complete standstill toward the end of 2015 when he was released by McLaren-Honda, ending his five-year association with the team.

After making way for two-time world champion Fernando Alonso at the end of the previous campaign, the Dane appeared to be facing another season on the sidelines in 2016.

But Magnussen may yet feature on this year's grid after emerging as a contender to join Renault, with Pastor Maldonado suddenly fighting to keep his seat at the Enstone-based team.

As Magnussen hopes to restart his F1 career at Renault, his former employers are preparing for a fresh start in 2016.

Having finished a lowly ninth in the 2015 constructors' championship, McLaren are aiming to bounce back this year, and racing director Eric Boullier has claimed their struggles have improved the atmosphere within the team.

With their grand prix debut now just two months away, Haas are also keen to implement a healthy, open atmosphere. So much so, in fact, that team principal Gunther Steiner asked Romain Grosjean for his opinion on Esteban Gutierrez before signing the Mexican.

Steiner has admitted the American outfit probably wouldn't have signed Gutierrez had they not received the backing of Grosjean, whose switch to Haas has been interpreted as his first step toward a future Ferrari seat.

One driver already under the Ferrari umbrella, however, is Mick Schumacher—son of seven-time world champion Michael—who is set to join the Prancing Horse's young-driver scheme following a successful single-seater debut in 2015.

With the news that Silverstone will host the second in-season test of 2016, here's our latest roundup.

Kevin Magnussen Could Replace Pastor Maldonado at Renault for 2016

Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Kevin Magnussen is in line to restart his Formula One career at Renault, and he could yet replace Pastor Maldonado before the start of the 2016 season.

Despite being the only McLaren driver to stand on a podium in the last three seasons, having finished second on his F1 debut at the 2014 Australian Grand Prix, Magnussen was released by the team last October, less than a year after being demoted to a reserve-driver role.

The Dane, who went on to tell Motorsport.com's Jonathan Noble he learned of his sacking via email on his 23rd birthday, had been thought to be facing the end of his F1 career and tested Porsche's World Endurance Championship-winning LMP1 car toward the end of 2015. 

But it appears that he may yet be offered an F1 lifeline after the Telegraph's Daniel Johnson reported that Magnussen recently visited the Renault team's factory "for talks with senior executives."

Those discussions are "most likely" to result in the Dane being offered a reserve role at the team, yet "the political uncertainty in Venezuela and the low price of oil" could see him replace Maldonado, the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix winner, who "brings lucrative sponsorship through the state oil company, PDVSA."

BBC Sport's Andrew Benson has claimed PDVSA's payments are "several weeks overdue" and the team, who "need confirmed drivers in time for a major media launch in early February," will replace Maldonado with Magnussen if the payment "is not made soon."

According to Autosport's Ian Parkes, meanwhile, Renault officials "are currently in Venezuela" hoping to finalise negotiations with PDVSA and secure Maldonado's future.

Following Renault's takeover of the Enstone-based Lotus outfit in late 2015, chief executive Carlos Ghosn told Le Figaro (h/t Motorsport.com) that the French manufacturer would soon reveal specific details regarding their revived F1 operation, including the identity of their drivers.

That raised doubts over whether Renault would honour the Lotus contracts of Maldonado and Jolyon Palmer, who has been promoted from a reserve role to replace Romain Grosjean for 2016.

Meanwhile, F1i.com's Chris Medland has claimed Magnussen remains in contention to race for the Mercedes-powered Manor team this year, but he faces stiff competition from the likes of Will Stevens, Alexander Rossi and GP2 driver Rio Haryanto.

McLaren-Honda Humbled by 2015 Struggles, Claims Eric Boullier

Dan Istitene/Getty Images

Eric Boullier believes McLaren-Honda's disastrous 2015 campaign has had a positive effect on the atmosphere within the team.

Normally accustomed to fighting for podiums, grand prix victories and world championships, McLaren were restricted to six points finishes last year as a result of Honda's struggles with its new V6 turbo power unit.

Those difficulties saw the team finish ninth in the constructors' standings—their worst result since 1980—with the frustration of McLaren's predicament boiling over on occasion.

After refusing to follow the pit wall's instructions in the Canadian Grand Prix, two-time world champion Fernando Alonso likened Honda's powertrain to an engine used in the GP2 junior series at the Japanese manufacturer's home race at Suzuka.

Despite those controversies, racing director Boullier believes McLaren's difficulties have brought the team closer together, telling Autosport's Ian Parkes: 

"

McLaren is a big team, Honda is a big company and both have a great heritage.

To keep the trust of the people, the credibility, the morale high, it's a hard job.

But what we saw [last year] was a lot of success in building [for] the future, definitely, a lot.

In some way the bad will be good for McLaren because it brought humility, and strangely maybe, the atmosphere in the company was quite good.

I'm not saying people were excited by the results, everybody was frustrated, but the atmosphere, the commitment of the people, the understanding, were huge.

"

Per the same source, Boullier explained McLaren's struggles left them with a choice to either "regroup" or allow "the system" to explode, and the harmony within the team will only improve if they resolve their problems in 2016.

As reported by Motorsport.com's Jonathan Noble, McLaren's new chassis has produced "encouraging figures" in the wind tunnel, while changes to Honda's engine "are expected to deliver a significant step forward," with Honda's Yasuhisa Arai telling F1i.com's Chris Medland that the Japanese manufacturer is planning to increase the size of its turbocharger.

Romain Grosjean Supported Haas' Signing of Esteban Gutierrez for 2016

Lars Baron/Getty Images

Gunther Steiner, the Haas team principal, has revealed the American outfit sought the opinion of Romain Grosjean before signing Esteban Gutierrez for the 2016 season.

After four full seasons with the Enstone-based Lotus team, Grosjean was announced as Haas' first driver in September 2015.

With the team's close relationship with Ferrari, Gutierrez, who held a reserve-driver role at the Prancing Horse in 2015, was regarded as the leading contender to join Haas, but his signing was not confirmed until November's Mexican Grand Prix.

And Steiner has admitted Haas sought Grosjean's thoughts on Gutierrez—whom he raced against in both GP2 and F1—implying the team may not have signed the former Sauber driver had they not received the Frenchman's backing, telling Autosport's Ian Parkes: 

"

When we picked Romain we spoke with him about Esteban.

If he had said he didn't get on with him or something, or if there was no respect more than anything else, it would have been hard [to then sign him].

Obviously Esteban is a good driver, but we didn't know him then as well as Romain, who had raced against him.

Romain knows his technique as a driver, and knows more about him as a guy, whether he is stable or unstable, and he was very positive about him. ...

What we think is they will get on pretty well because they are both intelligent guys, and not just as race car drivers, but as human beings in general.

They've both had a good education, they are at a good level, and I think they will get on—or at least I hope so.

"

New to the paddock, the American outfit seemed to gauge a range of opinions before finalising their driver lineup, with F1 journalist Adam Cooper claiming team owner Gene Haas asked him about Grosjean at the Italian GP just weeks before the Frenchman's signing was announced.

Haas' debut moved a step closer last week when the team's official Twitter account confirmed their new car had passed the final FIA crash tests, with Gutierrez visiting the team's base in Kannapolis, North Carolina, for the first time.

During his visit, Gutierrez told reporters, per Motorsport.com's Pablo Elizalde, that he will have "no problem" readjusting to full-time racing this season despite spending 2015 on the sidelines.

Mick Schumacher to Follow in Father's Footsteps by Joining Ferrari

RONNY HARTMANN/Getty Images

Mick Schumacher, the teenage son of Michael, is set to follow in the footsteps of his father by joining Ferrari as the latest member of the team's young-driver program.

Schumacher Jr. made his single-seater debut in 2015, winning one race in the ADAC Formula 4 series, and has recently been the subject of a tug of war between Mercedes and Ferrari, both of whom employed his father over the course of the seven-time world champion's F1 career.

In December, the 16-year-old attended Mercedes' Stars and Cars end-of-season event, where Nico Rosberg—himself the son of a world champion—aired concerns about the media scrutiny on Schumacher Jr., per AFP (h/t ESPN F1).

Yet F1i.com's Pierre Van Vliet has reported that the youngster, rather than falling into the clutches of the Silver Arrows, has opted to join Ferrari, with whom his father claimed 72 victories and five world championships between 1996 and 2006.

The same source claims that Schumacher Jr. will replace fellow teenager Lance Stroll, who has left Ferrari's ranks to join Williams in a development-driver role, and will now have a "clear progression path" to F1.

Schumacher Jr. will remain in Formula 4 for 2016 but in the colours of the Ferrari-affiliated Prema Powerteam, who also compete in the FIA European Formula 3 championship and will this year race in GP2, F1's official feeder series.

Schumacher Sr., who retired from F1 at the end of 2012, continues to recover from severe head injuries sustained in a skiing accident in December 2013.

Silverstone Set to Host 2nd in-Season Test in 2016

Clive Mason/Getty Images

Silverstone is set to stage the second in-season test of 2016 in the aftermath of July's British Grand Prix.

Although the pre-season schedule will be reduced from three to two four-day tests this year as part of a cost-cutting exercise, Formula One will continue to stage two in-season tests in 2016.

According to Motorsport.com's Adam Cooper, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya—where teams traditionally conduct most of their testing—will host the first two-day session following May's Spanish GP, but the venue of the second test had been uncertain.

Bahrain's Sakhir track, Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit and the Red Bull Ring, which staged an in-season test in 2015, had all been under consideration, according to Cooper. 

But the fact that the Austrian GP will now take place just seven days ahead of the British race has prevented a return to the Styrian track.

And it is increasingly likely that Silverstone will host the test session, with head of marketing and communications Katie Tyler telling the same source that the circuit is "in discussion with Formula 1 and the teams to finalise details of the test in the week immediately following the British Grand Prix."

Silverstone last hosted an official F1 test in July 2014, a session notable for the late Jules Bianchi's appearance for Ferrari and Pirelli's experiment with 18-inch tyres.

Meanwhile, Pirelli have announced that Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and McLaren-Honda will participate in a two-day test at the Paul Ricard track on January 25 and 26, where only wet-weather tyres will be used.

McLaren's official Twitter account has confirmed that Stoffel Vandoorne, the 2015 GP2 champion, will participate at the French circuit, while Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat will both appear for Red Bull, per Crash.net.

Follow @OllieHarden