Kevin Magnussen was left “flat out, just completely confused” by the penalty he received in the Italian Grand Prix that triggered a race ban.
The Haas driver attempted to overtake Pierre Gasly into the second chicane, but locked up and the pair banged wheels, both running wide and continuing. Magnussen was handed a 10s time penalty for causing a collision, with the standard two penalty points that came with it taking him to a total of 12 and triggered a one-race suspension for the next event in Baku.
“I’m frustrated about the penalty — I don’t understand it at all,” Magnussen said. “Flat out, just completely confused. We raced hard into Turn 4, we had slight contact and we both missed the corner, we came back on track again, no damage to either car, no consequence in the race for either of us and I get a 10s penalty.
“Then lap one, [Daniel] Ricciardo and Nico [Hulkenberg]… Ricciardo put Nico on the grass at 300kmh, completely destroyed Nico’s race, massive consequence and damage to Nico’s car and he gets a 5s penalty. Where is the logic? I just don’t get it.”
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
The time penalty still didn’t demote Magnussen out of the points, dropping him from ninth to 10th, just 0.1s ahead of Fernando Alonso in the final classification. As he was speaking immediately after getting out of the car, he admitted he hadn’t seen the official document from the stewards yet confirming his ban, but had been true to his word that he wouldn’t change the way he raced in order to try and get the best result.
“I only know I have the two points from you; I haven’t heard it officially,” he said to the media. “But I said all the time I am not going to hold back. It doesn’t make sense. I scored a point today, so see you later.”
Team principal Ayao Komatsu confirmed to SiriusXM that Oliver Bearman was the likely replacement for Magnussen in Azerbaijan, but that he would need final approval from Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur.
“It’s a time penalty so we cannot do anything,” Komatsu said. “We just accept it and then just have to put a plan in place. It’s a shame because [at] Baku, I think Kev would be really strong. That’s a circuit where he’s strong, so it’s a shame.
“I cannot say [if Bearman will drive] at this minute; I need to get confirmation from Fred. It’s [TBD].”