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Magnussen rues ‘big consequence’ for Haas as he reflects on Italian GP penalty that led to Baku ban
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It was an eventful Italian Grand Prix for the Haas team, with both Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg receiving 10-second time penalties for separate incidents – leaving Magnussen in particular unhappy with his punishment, one that ultimately resulted in him receiving a race ban.
The Dane had been battling with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly when they made contact down the inside of Turn 4, an incident that the stewards subsequently deemed Magnussen to be “wholly to blame for”.
READ MORE; Magnussen banned for Azerbaijan Grand Prix after being penalised for Gasly clash in Monza
As such, the 31-year-old was handed a 10-second time penalty along with two penalty points on his licence, which takes his total up to 12 points. Given that a driver receives a one-race ban should they accumulate 12 points over a 12-month period, Magnussen will be forced to miss the upcoming Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Speaking prior to his ban being confirmed, Magnussen reflected positively on his race – in which he scored a point in 10th place – but was critical about the penalty he had received.
“[I’m] happy with our race,” the Haas driver explained. “I don’t know what’s going on with these penalties. I mean, what’s the point? We had a slight contact into Turn 4, no damage on either car. It had no consequence, nobody lost anything.
“We both missed the corner but, hey, we’re racing. I just don’t get the point, honestly. I saw Nico almost had 300km/h, almost hit the barrier with the contact with [Daniel] Ricciardo and he [Ricciardo] got five seconds. I got 10 seconds for this.
Magnussen 'doesn't know what is happening' with penalties but finishes P10
“At this point, I don’t know what’s going on. Happy with today’s point, happy with the balance and the performance in the car and the strategy, so we can take that onwards.”
Asked if he intends to speak to the stewards about the issue, Magnussen responded: “Yeah, I have to. It doesn’t make any sense. It makes zero sense.”
While Magnussen was pleased to score a point as the team try to advance on RB's P6 in the constructors’ standings – the two teams now separated by six points – he also admitted that losing out on ninth place at Monza due to his time penalty could potentially be crucial.
“We damage limited and, at the end of the day, it’s one/two points because I would have finished ninth, came 10th, now it’s the other way around, so that’s not great,” said Magnussen. “That’s a big consequence for us, really big. But it is what it is, I guess.”
Hulkenberg, meanwhile, saw his race unravel following early battles with the RB drivers. The first contact with Ricciardo resulted in the Australian receiving a five-second time penalty – but Hulkenberg was deemed at fault for the second with Yuki Tsunoda, resulting in a 10-second time penalty for the German.
'Very poor first lap' adds to 'difficult' Italian Grand Prix for Nico Hulkenberg
From there Hulkenberg struggled to recover and he ultimately ended the race down in P17. Reflecting on those early incidents, the 37-year-old commented: “[I had] just a very poor first lap, just seemed to have bad timing and [be in the] wrong position all the time.
“And then into Turn 8 I got a real good tow off Danny [Ricciardo] and so I chose the outside line, but he swept across quite a lot and didn’t really leave the car width, so we made contact. He put me off a bit, then the engine went into anti-stall so it took a while to get that sorted out.
“[I] lost a few more positions, so yeah, more or less that was when the race was already looking very difficult, but obviously then the racing incident with Yuki, the front wing change plus a penalty that you have to serve, you lose so much time and then into blue flags… it’s just game over.”
Despite this, Hulkenberg was heartened that Magnussen was still able to score a point for the team.
“Very good that he was there today and that he [had a] strong drive,” he added. “I think he would have been P9 without the penalty that he had; I don’t know what happened to him but I heard [about it]. So very good that we only lost the one point to Williams.”
Hulkenberg will line up with a new team mate in Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as Magnussen is side-lined due to his one-race ban – the first to be handed out in F1 since Romain Grosjean in 2012.
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