Gene Haas has admitted that Kevin Magnussen was next in line had Romain Grosjean turned down 2016 seat.

The Dane, who is now understood to be looking at WEC, was told last month that he was not going to be retained by the Woking team, the youngster apparently being advised by the team on his birthday.

Magnussen, who finished on the podium on his F1 debut, stood in for Fernando Alonso in this season's opener, but in a portent of what was to come broke down on his way to the grid.

"We talked to Magnussen, who was a very good candidate," Haas told the official F1 website. "He was very well respected by the McLaren team. In fact if Romain had declined we would have taken Magnussen as the primary seat."

That said, it's widely believed that before Grosjean finally put pen to paper, Nico Hulkenberg was top of the American team's wish list, which at one point was said to contain as many as ten drivers on it.

Only last month, British motorsport legend Trevor Carlin, whose team has won countless championships with a roster of drivers that reads like a veritable Who's Who, described Magnussen as reminiscent of Ayrton Senna.

"During the course of the past 20-odd seasons we've been lucky enough to have some truly brilliant drivers in our cars," he told Danish newspaper BT. Among current F1 drivers, no fewer than eight have raced for us at one time or another; Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Daniil Kvyat, Carlos Sainz Jnr, Felipe Nasr, Marcus Ericsson and Will Stevens - and before that we'd had guys like Robert Kubica, Brendon Hartley, Anthony Davidson and many, many more.

"If you were to ask me to name the best driver we've ever had, I wouldn't like to tell you, because to do so would be unfair on a large number of bloody good drivers, but undoubtedly Kevin would be right up there. He has unbelievable natural talent - and, in particular, his ability to brake late for a corner and yet nail its apex and then get on the power early is second to none. He's the real deal, believe me.

"The other day someone asked me which driver Kevin's driving style most reminded me of. I had a good think about it before I answered, and then I answered truthfully: Ayrton Senna.

"Any driver who finishes second in his very first Formula 1 race should be a permanent fixture in a competitive Formula 1 team's race seat," he concluded. "It would be a travesty if Kevin fails to find a Formula 1 race drive next year, because he's very definitely world champion material, mark my words."