'I’m p****d off’ – Furious Magnussen blasts rivals for failing to respect yellow flag rules in Q1

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen was left seething after being knocked out in Q1 during qualifying at the Turkish Grand Prix, with the Dane accusing his fellow drivers of failing to respect yellow flag rules after a pair of incidents involving Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and AlphaTauri's Daniil Kvyat, which Magnussen had backed off for.

In the extremely wet conditions of Q1, Magnussen was sitting a promising P7 when the session was red-flagged after 11 minutes when the weather was deemed too poor to run – while a spin into the gravel for Magnussen’s team mate Romain Grosjean when the session restarted brought out a further red flag.

At the second restart, though, and with the track improving, Magnussen was on a faster lap when further spins for Latifi and Kvyat brought out double-waved yellow flags, with Magnussen aborting his lap – and being left furious as he accused his rivals of not doing the same, as he was ultimately pushed out in Q1.

READ MORE: Norris handed five-place Turkish GP grid penalty for failing to respect yellow flags

“I backed off, and nobody else did,” said Magnussen. “The track was better so you were going to improve, but there was a double yellow flag. The rules say you have to abort the lap, nobody did… I was P7 and I got knocked out, so clearly, nobody gave an eff.”

Indeed, with a flurry of drivers having improved their times on the yellow-flagged lap, the stewards announced that they would be forced to comb through the laps to investigate any misdemeanours after qualifying had finished – eventually handing a five-place grid penalty to McLaren’s Lando Norris and Williams' George Russell, while absolving eventual polesitter Lance Stroll of any wrongdoing… all of which was of scant comfort to Magnussen, who said that the decision to investigate after the session could set a worrying precedent going forwards.

“They don’t look at it in-session, so now I’m knocked out,” he told the media as the cars circulated in Q2. “I’m not running now because people don’t respect the rules… and I should be running now. I was P7 and I didn’t push because there was a yellow flag. Clearly the track improved and I’m p***ed off.

READ MORE: Stroll takes scintillating Turkish GP pole in dramatic, rain-hit qualifying

“They have to do it in the session and delete those lap times because now I’m out,” he added. “If this is normal, then I can’t justify backing off. I’d rather get through then get a penalty after so it’s dangerous.”

A pair of penalties for McLaren’s Norris and Carlos Sainz will ultimately lift Magnussen from 16th to 14th on the starting grid for Sunday’s race – while with Grosjean having failed to extricate himself from the gravel after his Q1 spin, the Frenchman is set to start the Turkish Grand Prix from P18.