Kevin Magnussen is a name on the tongues of many in the F1 world this weekend as his defensive tactics caused quite a stir following the F1 Sprint at the Miami Grand Prix.
The 2014 Australian Grand Prix podium finisher picked up 4 penalties in the 19-lap showdown as he had a massive fight with Lewis Hamilton for over half the race. Starting P14, he gained 6 places on the opening lap as he made a superb pass on the seven-time World Champion into turn 4.
Regarding his time penalties, he left the track and gained an advantage on three occasions according to the stewards, with another one coming for leaving the track without a justifiable reason numerous times.
Speaking post-sprint, Magnussen admitted he deserved all his penalties as he went over the limit to help Nico Hülkenberg claim P7 — it’s the second time in the last five events he has done that as he backed up the midfield pack in Jeddah to help his German stablemate get a point that day.
The 31-year-old was not helped as Hülkenberg cut the chicane on lap 6 and got out of DRS range to his teammate in the process.
“All the penalties were well deserved. No doubt about it.
“But I had to play the game again. I was in a very good position behind Nico there. At the beginning of the race I gained a lot positions, was up in P8 and protecting well from Lewis because I had DRS from Nico and had good pace.
“But then Nico cut the chicane and I lost the DRS [on lap six in an incident that was not investigated].
“Nico could’ve given that back to give me the DRS to protect because then we would’ve easily been P7-P8.
“Instead, I was really vulnerable to Lewis [and we] started fighting like crazy, and I had to create the gap just like I did in Jeddah.”
“I started using these stupid tactics, which I don’t like doing. But, at the end of the day, I did my job as a team player.
“Nico scored his points because I got that gap for him. Lewis and Tsunoda couldn’t catch him. Not the way I like to go racing, at all, but [it was] what I had to do today.”
As for Lewis Hamilton, he enjoyed the fight as the W15 lack of straight-line speed did not help him in the incredibly tough scraps.
The 39-year-old also praised Magnussen for his honesty about the tactics he employed.
“I mean, it’s really honest of him. I think it’s pretty cool. We had a good race. It was a little bit on the edge in some places, but that is what I love. I love racing hard.
“So for me, it wasn’t really frustrating or anything. That is obviously what you do to work as a team. So bravo.”
The topic of penalties and defensive driving came up when Magnussen spoke to written media in the pen after Grand Prix qualifying when he exited in Q1.
Although he picked up 4 penalties and eventually had 3 penalty points added to his licence, the Danish driver believes harsher measures are required to deter such driving as getting more time penalties does not matter after you pick up the first one.
“I don’t think it’s clear that you have to change the way you race, based on how many penalties you have.
“I mean, those penalties are given after the race if they are time penalties, unless you get a drive-through or a stop-and-go, of course.
“So it has to be clear that you have to change the way you drive, whether you have one penalty, two penalties, three penalties. I mean, it should be the same.”
Magnussen suggested that instead of handing out a bunch of penalties that are pretty meaningless and without massive consequences for a driver, the best way to solve it is to give the position back to the car behind immediately instead of awarding a time penalty.
“But I do agree that there could be improvement in the rules. If you’re fighting and you do something that’s not allowed, it would be great if the FIA had the power to tell you to give it back or swap positions, because that way it’s going to have an effect immediately.
“And, you know, stop any sort of games being played. But in this case, the games that I was playing was going slow on the tight part of the track. Not anything else.
“[I was] just going slow and creating a gap. But I’m not aware that that’s not allowed.”
