"I did my job as a team player" - Kevin Magnussen justifies "stupid tactics" against Lewis Hamilton in Miami Sprint
Haas F1 driver Kevin Magnussen justified his defensive driving against Lewis Hamilton in the Miami GP sprint race while confessing that he didn't like to execute the "stupid tactics".
Following the first-lap incident in the sprint race, Haas drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen found themselves in the final two points-paying positions. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was hot on his heels after the restart.
A few laps into the race, Kevin Magnussen claimed that his teammate cut the chicane, which made him drop out of the one-second DRS gap. He was hence vulnerable to Hamilton and was forced to defend hard.
While battling Hamilton, Magnussen cut the chicane and earned himself a 10-second penalty. After this incident, he dropped the anchors in an attempt to extend the gap to his teammate and protect Hulkenberg from the faster cars behind, reminiscent of his defensive masterclass in the Saudi Arabian GP.
"Instead I was really vulnerable to Lewis. Started fighting with him like crazy and I had to just create the gap like I did in Jeddah. I started using these stupid tactics which I don't like doing, but the end of the day I did my job as a team player and Nico scored his points because I got that gap for him so Lewis and Tsunoda couldn't catch him," Hulkenberg told Sky Sports F1.
Kevin Magnussen confessed that all his penalties - three 10-second penalties and one five-second penalty - were deserving of his actions but added that he was forced to play the role of rear-gunner.
"All the penalties were well deserved - no doubt about it. But I had to play the game again."
"Not the way I like to go racing at all but it was what I had to do today," he added.
The 35-second penalty dropped the Danish driver to P18, last among all the finishers.
Lewis Hamilton is not frustrated with Kevin Magnussen
Despite receiving the short end from Kevin Magnussen's defensive driving, Lewis Hamilton praised the Haas driver for demonstrating teamwork in the Miami Sprint race. Magnussen's stern defense helped teammate Nico Hulkenberg secure a seventh-place finish, adding two points to the team's tally.
The Mercedes driver said he enjoyed the hard battle with Magnussen in the 19-lap sprint race and wasn't frustrated with losing out on a better points-paying result.
"I think it’s really honest of him and I think it’s pretty cool. We had a good race, it was a little bit on the edge in some places but that’s what I love! I love racing hard!" he told Sky Sports F1.
"I wasn’t really pissed- sorry, frustrated or anything! But yea, that’s what you do to work as a team so, BRAVO!" he added.
Lewis Hamilton took the checkered flag in eighth position but was relegated to a 16th-place finish for speeding in the pitlane, which earned him a drive-through penalty, converted to a 20-second time penalty.