Kevin Magnussen is under investigation by the stewards for “unsportsmanlike behaviour” after collecting four penalties during today’s sprint race in Miami.
The Haas driver said his penalties were due to “stupid tactics” in aid of his team mate Nico Hulkenberg.Magnussen received three separate 10-second penalties for leaving the track and gaining an advantage while battling with Lewis Hamilton and a fourth penalty of five seconds for exceeding track limits four times. The combined 35 seconds of penalties dropped Magnussen from 10th on the road to 18th and last.
Hulkenberg finished seventh to secure two points for the team. Magnussen explained he was trying to defend from a train of cars to help Hulkenberg ahead, as he did in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah earlier in the season.
“All the penalties were well-deserved – no doubt about it – but I had to play the game again,” Magnussen told Sky after the sprint race.
“I was in a very good position behind Nico there. At the beginning of the race, I gained a lot of positions, I was up in P8. I protected well from Lewis, because I had DRS from Nico and I had good pace, I felt.
“But then Nico cut the chicane, and I lost the DRS and Nico could have given that back to give me the DRS to protect, because then we would have easily been P7 and P8. Instead I was really vulnerable to Lewis, started fighting with him like crazy.”
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Magnussen admitted that he took no joy from racing in the manner he did throughout the sprint race.
“I had to just create the gap like I did in Jeddah and start using these stupid tactics, which I don’t like doing,” he said.
“But at the end of the day I did my job as a team player and Nico scored his points because I got that gap for him, so Lewis and Tsunoda couldn’t catch him. So not the way I like to go racing at all, but what I had to do today.”
After making those comments the stewards announced a further investigation into Magnussen for “alleged unsportsmanlike behaviour.” They are considering whether he violated a clause of the International Sporting Code which forbids “any infringement of the principles of fairness in competition, behaviour in an unsportsmanlike manner or attempt to influence the result of a competition in a way that is contrary to sporting ethics.”
Magnussen’s four in-race penalties are likely to result in him receiving more penalty points on his superlicence as a result of his penalties. He currently sits on five, just under halfway to the 12 that would trigger an automatic race ban.
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2024 Miami Grand Prix
- McLaren had superior pace before Verstappen’s damage in Miami – Norris
- Sainz ‘struggles to understand’ why he got penalty when Perez didn’t
- Alonso’s unusual brake problem and more unheard Miami team radio
- McLaren’s Miami upgrade success points to even stronger form in coming races
- Norris expects more wins this year and believes “100%” in 2025 title bid
BLS (@brightlampshade)
4th May 2024, 18:33
Best hope those four penalties don’t get two points each.
If he had zero to start with they definitely would. But given that would ban him the stewards will no doubt be lenient.
MichaelN
4th May 2024, 18:41
Doing it all on purpose, and proudly proclaiming such to the media, is definitely a good reason to double the inevitable penalty points.
PacificPR (@streydt)
4th May 2024, 18:55
I think this was fine, Magnussen didn’t do anything too dangerous and no one crashed (unlike the start). If we are going to make rules against defensive racing, we can just as well stop with racing at all.. or maybe those smooth DRS passes are exciting enough?
BLS (@brightlampshade)
4th May 2024, 19:03
Technically they did crash, when Kmag out braked himself off the circuit, and then re-joined and just rammed Hamilton out the way. There’s good defensive driving (Ricciardo today) and then there’s keeping cars behind no matter the cost (Kmag and 4x penalties)
PacificPR (@streydt)
4th May 2024, 19:07
Don’t take my words for it. Hamilton
BLS (@brightlampshade)
4th May 2024, 19:38
Fair enough, I look forward to Ham proclaiming his enjoyment of future similar battles on the team ratio. Although I have my doubts :D
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
5th May 2024, 8:20
I’m surprised by this comment from hamilton, I thought he was in his rights to complain, considering magnussen went beyond the limit of the rules to keep him behind.
MichaelN
4th May 2024, 20:59
Be that as it may, those aren’t the standards by which the driver’s conduct is to be judged.
Jere (@jerejj)
4th May 2024, 18:43
Hulkenberg may have cut the chicane unseen on the world feed coverage, but Magnussen would’ve still gained the final point had he bothered to battle cleanly, given Hamilton’s looming time penalty, so throwing away a chance for that point was silly from him.
Therefore, he only has himself to blame rather than anyone or anything else.
Sumedh
4th May 2024, 18:52
I think it’s time to let a race ban happen now. Let Bearman come in again.
Gusm.ai
4th May 2024, 18:55
The most concerning part on those MAgnussen events is that F1 cars cant pass eachother unless there is an 1sec/lap advantage.
Haas are definitely in the bottom half od the grid, in terms of perfomance, the driver is taking defensive lines, the cars behind have DRS during a 1000mile straight, and yet even Hamilton in a Mercedes cant arrange a clean definitive pass.
It was even more odd that Sainz couldnt pass Ricciardo. If a Ferrari cant pass a VCARB, then not even reserve grids would save sprints.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
5th May 2024, 8:22
To be honest, you say “even hamilton in a merc”, as if merc were in a really good spot or hamilton never struggled overtaking anyone before, they’re not in a good place, they’re not much stronger than haas, so understandable it was so difficult with a driver aggressively defending.
Sainz on ricciardo was indeed surprising, ricciardo was in really good form.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
4th May 2024, 18:57
Magnussen quietly taking credit for Hulkenberg’s significant accomplishments is a bit amusing, I won’t lie, but if he wants to justify his ongoing shenanigans, something he’s been doing all of his F1 career up until this point, by saying it’s for the team and not him being completely incapable of clean racing is a bit rich.
Hope they give him enough penalty points so he can no longer afford a single “mistake” for the rest of the season.
Edvaldo
4th May 2024, 19:00
This is the team they think is more worthy of taking part than Andretti.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
4th May 2024, 19:13
Well, Nico did what he needed to do and Kevin really overdid it. Of this is what the team is asking him to do (unsportsmanlike racing) he should speak out.
SteveP
4th May 2024, 22:58
I think he sort of has done, today.
Coventry Climax
4th May 2024, 19:22
I’d give the man creditpoints on his license, instead of penaltypoints:
He provided the only amusing action to watch today, and did not hesitate to name F1’s format flaws after the event.
Actually fell asleep for the last couple of laps.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
5th May 2024, 8:25
That’s a good invention about credit points, perhaps they could be used as a get out of jail free card for future penalties!
Patrick (@paeschli)
4th May 2024, 19:27
why are stewards so reluctant to give a drive through penalty in such cases?
It’s now the second time Haas uses such tactics and as long as stewards leave the offending driver on track this will keep happening.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
4th May 2024, 19:53
I think this is a good point. I like to think I’m all for hard racing, including defending. But Kmag was clearly just being a **** knowing that he didn’t care how many time penalties he got. With a drive through within 3 laps (like the old days….. I know I sound old) he would have just been removed from the pack for not even trying to make corners and throwing himself around the place. He can do that half a lap behind everyone.
What the team did in Saudi worked and looked good. But it was opportunistic and safe. Today just looked like a child who’s learnt a trick and was desperate to show everyone and dial it up to 11. I wasn’t impressed.
David BR (@david-br)
4th May 2024, 21:15
+1
Or a race ban. It’s openly cynical and openly admitted. Time for them to get heavy.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
4th May 2024, 19:36
What happened between Magnussen and Hamilton was irrelevant in my opinion, as Hamilton should already have been benched after his first-corner lunge. It would be wholly unjust to penalise Magnussen for defending against a driver who shouldn’t even have been there to begin with.
oweng (@oweng)
4th May 2024, 20:38
That’s a ridiculous take. Yes Hamilton should have been penalised for the first corner but because he wasn’t doesn’t give other drivers a free pass to drive how Magnussen did today.
It was awful tactics that have no place on a race track in my view. And it was different I think to how Magnussen defended/slowed down the field previously.
J Soulsby (@jmsoulsby)
4th May 2024, 20:39
HAM might have had a late lunge, but have a look at the overhead camera shots. ALO is wide, possibly allowing for HAM, and STR steers in ALO. Only then did HAM hit ALO.
HAM was behind ALO having just overtaken TSU(?), when STR steers in.
https://youtu.be/8Hxn1m-jdyk?si=w4spCL0VkAGcgMKV
J Soulsby (@jmsoulsby)
4th May 2024, 20:43
Even the stewards state: “However the stewards ruled the two Aston Martin drivers had already made contact before Hamilton touched Alonso’s car. They therefore determined no driver was chiefly to blame, which was why they decided not to issue any penalties.
“From the video evidence, it appeared that there were at least three collisions that occurred – the first between cars 14 [Alonso] and 18 [Stroll] and then between car 44 [Hamilton] and car 14 and
finally between car 18 and car four [Norris].”
Martin (@f1hornet)
4th May 2024, 21:11
Also, if Hamilton had been penalised for speeding in the pit lane quicker, this might not have happened. Normally they’re much quicker on those as it’s so binary.
David BR (@david-br)
4th May 2024, 21:23
@f1hornet Maybe true but doesn’t excuse Magnussen or Haas.
David BR (@david-br)
4th May 2024, 21:21
@red-andy Hamilton would have made the corner easily and there was a ton of space. Racing incident.
Dex
4th May 2024, 20:24
Like I said commenting the Sprint race, Haas should be penalized. I didn’t read this at first, and this is just a proof that I was right. They have admitted it now. If there’s any fairness and sportsmanship left, they should lose many points. Renault was punished for intentionally crashing their cars for the very same reason (the stakes were higher, but that shouldn’t matter). Why shouldn’t Haas be punished too? These tactics are legitimate only if they don’t intentionally break the rules and collect meaningless penalties. There should be a penalty that hurts, even if a driver is outside of the points. And since he’s doing it on the team orders, the team should suffer directly.
To be honest, Haas really doesn’t belong in F1, considering how they impose the limit of 10 teams in F1. So what, Haas IS competitive, as opposed to Andretti? Pffff… Even their owner never bothers to watch the races, or to invest a few bucks at least.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
5th May 2024, 8:31
Yes, I think a point lost for the team for each penalty gained in a situation like this would make sense, the only one benefitting then would be hulkenberg and he certainly doesn’t care about ending the season with 1-2 more points, it’s the constructor’s championship that matters for those teams and such a penalty would nullify illegal efforts like this.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
5th May 2024, 0:21
Make sprints worthwhile: turn off DRS and team radio (except for critical safety information, like MotoGP). No more boring trains or target laptimes.
And well done Nico for escaping that madhouse.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
5th May 2024, 3:02
This made me smile coming from Kmag.
Of course there is no doubt that penalties were earned, however in many ways I did enjoy the fight.
Coventry Climax
5th May 2024, 16:10
@cairnsfella
Exactly.
And the fact he’s allowed to do so, within the current set of rules and how it’s all (seemingly randomly) stewarded, shows how wrong this ruleset and stewarding system is, and not how wrong Magnussen is, like most of the commenters seem to think. He knows all that himself, even plainly said so, but just shows what a complete farce ‘modern racing’ has become. Just like Alonso did when he said in advance he’d take advantage of the first lap lenience, just like all the others that got get away with rulesbraking without problems just fine.
Ben-Hur (@ben-hur)
5th May 2024, 16:54
Kevin, my hero, have a beer on me!!