De Vries’ driving shows he’s “in a desperate situation” – Magnussen

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen reckons his incident with AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries during the Austrian Grand Prix showed his rival is “racing for his future”.

De Vries was handed a five-second penalty for forcing Magnussen off track on the outside of turn six on lap 35 of the race. The pair were disputing 15th place at the time and Magnussen fell to last after emerging from the gravel trap.

Magnussen told his team on the radio “de Vries just completely pushed me off again, what the fuck?” It was the second altercation between the pair during yesterday’s race.

On lap four, following a Safety Car restart, Magnussen had attempted to go around the outside of de Vries at turn four. He did not draw fully alongside de Vries, who kept his line, leaving Magnussen to run into the gravel (pictured).

Magnussen believes the pressure De Vries is under to perform at AlphaTauri is affecting his performance.

“He got a penalty, right? He did push me off,” said Magnussen in response to a question from RaceFans. “He’s, I guess, racing for his future and maybe in a bit of a desperate situation.

“So nothing I can say really, he got a penalty so it is what it is.”

De Vries fell to last of the standings by finishing 17th. It followed week in which his employers at Red Bull publicly admitted he is under pressure to keep his seat, though Max Verstappen came to his support.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

The AlphaTauri driver wasn’t convinced the incident merited a penalty. He said he and Magnussen “happen to like each other when it comes to meeting each other on track, but I think it was hard racing.

“I’ll take the penalty, it’s not my entitlement to judge on that,” said de Vries. “The stewards gave me a penalty and we took them, and thankfully for us we made a sufficient gap to not lose any positions.”

“It’s a little bit irrelevant what I think,” he added. “I’m not the person who decides whether I should get a penalty for it or not. We race hard, we are trying to find the limits, and sometimes it’s beyond and sometimes it’s below. And I got a five seconds penalty for it.”

Such incidents “happen all the time” in races, said De Vries. “Each situation is judged slightly differently, and it’s not so black and white.

“Obviously we understand the rules, but you’ve got to push to the limit of the rules to make sure you don’t lose out and sometimes you go beyond and sometimes you undershoot.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2023 Austrian Grand Prix

• Mercedes left scratching heads by lack of performance at Austrian GP
• Verstappen’s determination to grab every point makes him a record-breaker
• Austrian GP track limits farce was avoidable like ‘IndyGate’ and Spa 2021 – Brown
• Alpine now “definitely beatable” for McLaren after upgrade – Brown
• Paddock Diary: 2023 Austrian Grand Prix

Browse all 2023 Austrian Grand Prix articles