“Seriously ridiculous, poor driving” - two F1 drivers hit with penalties in China
“Look at where he has come from. Miles away! And knocks him out. That was not good. That was poor driving.”
Kevin Magnussen and Lance Stroll were given penalty points for incidents at the F1 Chinese Grand Prix.
The Haas and Aston Martin drivers were ruled to be at fault for separate clashes in Sunday’s race in Shanghai.
Stroll braked late, perhaps caught off guard by the slow cars in front of him, shortly after the restart from the Safety Car’s intervention.
Oscar Piastri and Daniel Ricciardo were forced to go particularly slowly, behind Fernando Alonso.
Stroll seemed to be trying to warm his tyres when he clattered into the back of Ricciardo, hoisting him into the air.
Ricciardo later retired with a diffuser problem, while Piastri limped home carrying damage from the same incident.
Stroll called Ricciardo “an idiot” via team radio for braking but was hit with a 10-second time penalty, which he served in the pits. He finished in 16th.
He was also given two penalty points, and now has a total of five.
Nico Rosberg assessed the incident on Sky Sports: “It’s an unfortunate bunching up. They were all too aggressive, too hot on the restart.
“Fernando locks up. Maybe it was Fernando who bunches everything up. “He has to slow down more. It’s a concertina effect.
“They are all raring to go…”
But the FIA ruled: “The Stewards reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing and in-car video evidence and determined that Car 18 [Stroll] collided with Car 3 [Ricciardo] at Turn 14.
“The cars were all travelling slowly to set up for the restart of the race towards the end of a Safety Car period. The car in front of Car 18 slowed down to take the corner and also to try to match the pace of the group of cars in front of it. Car 18 then collided with Car 3.
“We determined that Car 18 ought to have anticipated the pace of the cars in front, particularly Car 3 and should have prepared to brake accordingly.
“Had it done that, it would have avoided the collision. Hence Car 18 was predominantly to blame for the collision that ultimately led to Car 3 having to retire from the race.”
Haas’ Magnussen then tried to overtake RB’s Yuki Tsunoda but oversteered into him.
Tsunoda was spun around and forced to retire from the race.
Magnussen was given a 10-second time penalty and finished in 15th.
Rosberg was critical: “Kevin Magnussen - that was seriously ridiculous. “That was not good.
“It was so aggressive and so unnecessary.
“Yuki can’t do anything. Even with all the space, there is nothing that Tsunoda could have done.
“Look at where he has come from. Miles away! And knocks him out.
“That was not good. That was poor driving.”
The FIA ruled: “The Stewards reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry, team radio and in-car video evidence and determined that Car 20 [Magnussen] collided with Car 22 [Tsunoda] at Turn 6,.
“Car 20 dived into the corner, braked late and collided with Car 22 at the exit of the corner. Car 22 retired after the collision. We found that Car 20 was predominantly to blame for the collision.”
Ted Kravitz reported mid-race from the pitlane: “Magnussen, naughty boy with the front wing, rejoined.
“But Stroll has had his brakes completely wrecked. He spent a good minute, or more, as they tried to get the car repaired.
“They couldn’t get the nose off. They managed it eventually. Lance rejoined in last.”
