Haas’ Kevin Magnussen has defended his actions leading up to his now infamous race ending shunt on the first lap in Monaco.
Following a race ending crash between Kevin Magnussen, Sergio Perez and an unfortunate Nico Hülkenberg at turn 1 last time out in Monaco, Magnussen has defended his driving, placing the blame on Sergio Perez.
Speaking in his written media session ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, Magnussen drew attention to the Red Bull driver’s failure to leave a car’s width of space as the two ascended the hill side by side. He admits he didn’t perceive a high level of risk in his ambitious move as he believed Perez ahead had seen him.
“It’s always one thing right when it happens, your view of what happens often changes when you see it from the outside,” Magnussen said. “But in this case, it didn’t change so much. The accident, in my view, was not what I wanted to happen. It’s a costly, costly thing for the team and, yeah, unnecessary.
“Well, the thing is, he had seen me and I knew he had seen me. So I thought, okay, one thing is if you’re not sure he’s seen you, then I perceive the risk as being bigger. In that case, if I wasn’t sure that he’d seen me, I probably would have just backed off.”
He continued to admit that in hindsight he should have considered Perez ahead of him may not leave an adequate amount of space.
“It was very clear to me that he had seen me,” he said. “So I thought, ‘okay, he’s going to leave a car width’. I trusted that he was going to do that, which in hindsight, I shouldn’t have trusted him. But that doesn’t change the fact that he didn’t leave a car width.
“Maybe, with my experience, I should have known that certain drivers don’t always leave a car width. There is always a risk that they won’t.”
Magnussen was then asked if it would have been possible to back out once he realised the gap which he was going for was closing. The Haas man explained he had reached a “point of no return” before the incident and reiterated that had he expected the gap to close he would have backed out earlier in the corner.
“You get to a point where, you know, you’re so close to the wall and his rear wheel comes out, so you’re locked in,” Magnussen explained. “If you brake, then he’s going to hit your front wheel with the front of his rear wheel. So, you know, there is a point where it’s a point of no return and you’re at his mercy.
“But, you know, leading up to that, I had full confidence that he had seen me because as soon as I got that momentum, he went to the right to cover me. So I knew, and you can see his head. He’s seen me. There’s no doubt that I can go and look at his onboard afterwards and I can see that he’s checking his mirror several times.
“So, yeah. Had I not been confident that he’d seen me, I would have probably backed out.”
When asked about the fallout within the team following the incident, Magnussen explained that, aside from the possibility of an injury, the financial implications for the team are the biggest concern. With both Haas drivers starting from the back of the grid, the teams ambitions for results were low without a costly 3-car crash adding insult to injury.
“It was a costly day,” he replied. “It’s not like we were in a very good position on the grid, you know, starting last in both cars.
“It wasn’t really going to be a great day no matter what, and I think it’s more the cost that it incurs. A cost like this is very costly to the team, so that is the worst thing about it. Except for obviously everyone being okay, that is the worst thing about it.”
