Kevin Magnussen has been banned for the next F1 race in Baku after colliding with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly at the Italian Grand Prix, which has put him over the limit of penalty points.
Magnussen crossed the finish line in ninth but was given a 10-second time penalty, so dropped to 10th. However, he was also handed two penalty points, moving him onto 12 in total this season, which incurs a race ban.
It is the first time a driver has fallen foul of this ruling since it was introduced in 2014. Romain Grosjean was the last driver to be banned for a race after causing a multi-car collision at the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix.
The stewards deemed Magnussen was “wholly to blame” for the contact at the second chicane and did not drive in a “safe and controlled manner through the manoeuvre”.
Gasly finished the race down in 15th as he was on a different strategy at the time when battling with Magnussen.
“Me and Gasly had slight contact,” Magnussen told Sky Sports F1 before he found out about his penalty.
“No damage to either cars, no consequences in the race. We just had slight contact and missed the corner. And so what? We were racing. I don’t know why we need to be throwing around penalties like this.
“On top of that, I nearly saw Nico [Hulkenberg] thrown into the wall at 300kph (200mph) by [Daniel] Ricciardo. I’m not saying he did it on purpose, but still he got five seconds and I got 10 seconds for this.”
Magnussen is likely in the last part of his F1 career as he does not have a contract for 2025 and Haas have announced a new driver line-up for next year of Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman.
The Dane was left frustrated, even before finding out about his ban, and wasn’t keen to speak to the stewards.
“Usually it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t change anything,” he said. “I have to go and speak to them. Too many times I speak to them and I still don’t understand what the rules are.
“They don’t want racing. That’s what it seems to me. If this thing between me and Gasly can’t be deemed a racing incident, I don’t know what can. It doesn’t make sense.”
Gasly wants Magnussen ban reversed
Gasly was surprised when told about the 10-second time penalty and penalty points for Magnussen.
The Alpine driver was wiling to speak to the stewards to reverse the decision, which has resulted in a race ban.
“Honestly, this was nothing,” said Gasly. “The whole afternoon we were dead slow. We really need to get on top of it because I really believed we would have more potential in the race and it was a lot harder.
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“Someone told me he got a 10 seconds penalty. I’m a bit surprised for that because he tried, but it was a bit of wheel to wheel and in the end I really didn’t lose any time. I’m a bit surprised.
“I hope somehow they can revert on that because that will would be definitely unfair. I’ll be happy to do it [speak with the stewards] – I’ll see what I can do. That will feel very unfair for the incident that it was.”
Who will replace Magnussen?
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Magnussen will return for the Singapore Grand Prix on September 20-22 and his 12 penalty points will be removed.
But, Haas need to fill his seat for the Azerbaijan in two weeks on September 13-15.
Britain’s Bearman is an option as he will join Haas next year and has already deputised for a driver this year.
Bearman stepped into Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in March and finished an impressive seventh on debut.
Formula 1 leaves Europe for Baku and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on September 13-15, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime
Source : Sky Sports
