Magnussen: “I deserve all my penalties”

Kevin Magnussen has the reputation of defending very aggressively in races, no matter the position at stake. Once again, he lived up to his reputation during the Miami Sprint Race. The Dane started 14th but managed to take advantage of the chaos of the first corner to slip into eighth place, the last position awarding points in this shortened race.

He found himself behind his teammate but in front of Lewis Hamilton. The Briton tried everything to pass, but ran into a wall. One could think that this battle would end when he received a ten-second penalty for cutting the chicane, allowing him to temporarily widen the gap on his pursuer.

However, it took more for the Dane to give up. It went as far as both drivers going straight at the end of the straight line because neither wanted to give in to the other. He was then penalized for repeatedly exceeding the track limits.

But if Kevin Magnussen was so active even though he already knew he wouldn’t score any points, it’s because all these maneuvers allowed Nico Hülkenberg to widen the gap. Thus, the German was never seen again, more than six seconds ahead of the pack held back by his teammate. The Haas team thus scored two additional points. It should be noted that the same strategy had been adopted in Saudi Arabia, with the same success (tenth place and one point).

When answering journalists’ questions, the Dane acknowledged that he deserved his three penalties and 35 additional seconds: “All the penalties were deserved. No doubt about that. But I had to play this game again. I was in a very good position behind Nico at the beginning of the race; I gained a lot of positions, I climbed back to eighth and I was protecting myself well from Lewis as I had Nico’s DRS and a good pace. But then Nico cut the chicane and I lost the DRS.”

That’s when he had to roll up his sleeves: « I started using these stupid tactics, which I don’t like to do. But in the end, I did my job as a teammate. Nico scored points because I created the gap for him. Lewis and Tsunoda couldn’t catch up with him. This is not the kind of racing I like at all, but it’s what I had to do today. »

The driver was summoned to the stewards for unsportsmanlike behavior. He could therefore face additional penalties for the upcoming race.

From our special correspondent in Miami.