Kevin Magnussen criticised the stewards’ decision to penalise him for his collision with Pierre Gasly during the Italian Grand Prix, which led to him being banned for a race.
The Haas driver has accumulated 12 penalty points on his superlicence and has been banned from the next round of the championship, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.Speaking before his ban was confirmed, Magnussen said he didn’t feel his incident with Gasly at the Roggia chicane deserved a penalty.
“Me and Gasly had slight contact,” Magnussen told Sky. “No damage on either car, no consequence in the race, we just had slight contact and missed the corner.
“And, so what? We were racing. I don’t know why we need to be throwing around penalties like this.”
He said the collision between his team mate and Daniel Ricciardo deserved a stiffer penalty. Magnussen was given a 10 second penalty, Magnussen five.
“Nico almost get thrown into the wall at 300kph by Ricciardo,” said Magnussen. “I’m not saying he did it on purpose, but still he got five seconds, I got 10 seconds. It doesn’t add up at all.”
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Magnussen collected nine of his penalty points for collisions with other drivers. He said he doesn’t understand why the stewards give the penalties they do for such incidents.
“Even though I go speak to them – I have spoken to them many times, too many times – I still don’t understand what the rules are. It seems like they’re just throwing around, they don’t want racing, that’s what it seems to me.
“If this thing between me and Gasly can’t be deemed a racing incident, then I don’t know what can. It doesn’t make sense.”
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu acknowledged Magnussen “won’t be racing in Baku” but the team has not yet confirmed who will replace him. The team’s reserve driver Oliver Bearman is due to race in Formula 2 that weekend, but was released from his commitment to the series earlier this year to replace Carlos Sainz Jnr at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
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Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
1st September 2024, 17:18
I agree. The penalty point after Grosjean took out half a field at Spa. An innocous wheel banger like that from Magnussen and Gasly shouldn’t fall in the same category. Why are there time penalties then? they should be more than enough for things like that. Same with Logan Sargeant at China, Alonso at China, Sainz at Miami…
Nick T.
1st September 2024, 17:25
+1
While I don’t feel sorry for K-Mag, the auto 10 second penalty for minor contact and sometimes penalty for no contact has really been some weak sauce. As I said elsewhere, 10 seconds should only be automatic for drivers overtaking illegally because they know they’ll gain more than 5 seconds by not sitting behind. That was the entire impetus to change the rule. Not because minor contact wasn’t being penalized enough.
MichaelN
1st September 2024, 17:28
The penalty points are not meant as a punishment, they’re just a tool to help the stewards keep track of consistent problematic behaviour. The stewards have always been able to ban a driver. That is nothing new.
Every single penalty point that brings a driver up to 12 can be argued to ‘not warrant a ban’. And that’s true. Same way a driver who wins the last race isn’t the champion. It’s about adding up points throughout the season. And Magnussen has been making far too many dodgy moves all season long.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
1st September 2024, 22:09
I don’t agree. Time penalties for racing incidents, if handled correctly, are more than enough. You make a mistake that involved another driver, they penalize you. A stop and go or whatever. That’s it. A penalty point should be given if the mistake involved a serious lack of judgement, like pushing someone into a wall, or ignoring yellow flags or whatever.
It should be serious offences, not something inherent to racing like banging wheels with another car…
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
2nd September 2024, 5:58
@fer-no65
Everything is obviously relative, and I am inclined to agree that the most recent incident ‘possibly’ shouldn’t even constitute points.
That said, I do not agree with what you seem to be suggesting. If someone were ignoring yellow flags or pushing someone into a wall with any regularity I would hope to see them receive a ban potentially ahead of any points accumulation target. I know it can be argued that more points may indeed be given for more severe infringements, but my point is more that ‘any’ incident or string of incidents that constitute genuine safety issues should still be able to be addressed outside of the points system if necessary
But of course this is where it becomes impossible to to objectively define the necessary subjectivity. Offenses that warrant points in the accumulation system need to be severe enough to be beyond the bounds of reasonable racing, yet potentially less severe than incidents that should warrant consideration for some further action on their own merit.
I suppose the upshot of this, is that the system ‘as is’ appears intended to cater for a range of infringements, including minor ones, rather than some sort of ‘three strikes and your out’ arrangement. And whilst there will always be debate as to where to draw the line regardless of the system, having the line so close to a racing incident in the first place will unsurprisingly ruffle some feathers on occasion.
Jere (@jerejj)
1st September 2024, 17:19
Gasly actually seemed to have sustained some damage, given how easily Ocon passed him unless he lifted off quite early into the S/F straight & Magnussen simply arrived too fast into Della Roggia to make the corner even if Gasly wasn’t alongside, so all on him.
He makes a good point about the 5-second versus 10-second, considering Ricciardo’s clumsiness against Hulkenberg into Variante Ascari on the opening lap was more risky, although Hulkenberg was equally clumsy against Tsunoda.
The good thing is that he’ll return to zero, so obtaining another twelve over the seven post-Baku rounds is unlikely.
BLS (@brightlampshade)
1st September 2024, 17:21
It’s entirely self inflicted so it’s hard to feel sorry for him. Everyone makes errors, but a large chunk of kMags points are for actively driving horrendously.
Nick T.
1st September 2024, 17:29
His race ban has been earned, but from the 10-second penalty on Ricciardo’s team to the 10-second penalty for RB briefly touching his wing as he pulled in, there was a lot I didn’t like. The latter smacked of zero common sense. Hell, I’d slightly understand a 10-second penalty for accidentally having the rear jack barely touching the car as they wait, but this was absurd.
BLS (@brightlampshade)
1st September 2024, 17:34
I’m sure SkyF1 are already making an analysis of every one of kMags penalties to fill some time in Baku!
Some of the penalties were a bit iffy today, but I feel he definitely got away with it in in the past, e.g. Miami (despite racking up a couple there). Could easily have earned enough in that race alone the way he was road blocking for Hulk.
Suffering Williams Fan
1st September 2024, 20:10
Exactly. While this specific incident was hardly the worst thing we’ve seen from Magnussen, his “driving” this year has been appalling at times, and this is long overdue. I’m glad he’s going to have to sit one out, though I don’t expect he’ll learning anything.
Aquila_GD
1st September 2024, 17:37
Magnussen should have had this race ban ages ago. Surprised he is only just getting one now. They should please put Schumacher in the Haas for one race.
Nerrticus (@nerrticus)
2nd September 2024, 2:43
Mick’s a Mercedes man now. Bearman has the seat for next year so it makes sense to use him.
HUHHII (@huhhii)
1st September 2024, 17:41
Could this mark the end of Magnussen’s career? I guess in theory Haas could stick with Bearman for the rest of the season
L.G.
1st September 2024, 17:59
It would be the sensible approach to make it permanent if they put Bearman in that car. A one-off does nothing for him, Haas could and should look to a more experienced driver for that.
BasCB (@bascb)
1st September 2024, 18:06
It would really make a lot of sense for them to take that step yeah. Probably depends on what is in Magnussen’s contract whether they can.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
1st September 2024, 18:55
Magnussen will never learn and this has been obvious many years ago. That would be the right thing to do, Olie gets the drive so he’ll get accustomed with the procedures in generals (strategy, PU settings, BB, steering wheel…) and the car as a whole and as a result be straightaway ready at the start of the next season.
Dane
1st September 2024, 18:48
Maybe Mick Schumacher still fits in his old seat?
Ulrik
1st September 2024, 20:02
Mick is history at Haas, he is most likely history in F1.
Bo
3rd September 2024, 13:32
The only thing Mick inherited from his father was the surname. He doesn’t have the talent to take a seat in the best class.
Paul (@frankjaeger)
1st September 2024, 20:23
Magnusson scored points today, and they can get a replacement in for next race, then he can crack on again – who cares?
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
1st September 2024, 21:55
What Ricciardo did to Hülkenberg was way worse, but no penalty points and only 5 seconds. But Magnussen has been working for his ban for quite a while now…
Levente (@leventebandi)
2nd September 2024, 0:03
People tend to forget how much does public opinion influence these things. Given that people in the paddock usually suck up narratives of FOM and the media you get things like this, or like hamilton usually given very lenient penalties in such cklashes (because the long runnign meme is that he is incredibly precise with his racecraft so the other must have been at fault), or Ricciardo still having a seat
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
2nd September 2024, 0:03
If I knew that this as going to be my last race at Monza, I would have not even qualified. KMag throwing his car around like a teenager was kind of beautiful, certainly cathartic. His panache was on display.
I give his F1 career a B, in a motorsport profession where he is an A+, or more.
More to come from KMag, no doubt.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
2nd September 2024, 0:04
in other series
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
2nd September 2024, 3:39
sorry to be a stickler