16/05/2024
NEWS STORY
On the cusp of a race ban, Kevin Magnussen says the rules need changing, as he feels it is unfair he could be sidelined for "driving outside of some white lines".
Having started the season with a clean sheet, the Dane left Miami with 10 penalty points, just two short of a race ban, and with 18 races to go before the slate is effectively wiped clean again, keeping out of trouble isn't going to be easy for the elbows-out racer.
Of course, the Haas driver didn't help his cause when interviewed in Miami after the Sprint, admitting that he hadn't liked breaking the rules but had to do so in order to assist his teammate (Nico Hulkenberg) ahead. Indeed, these comments came back to bite him as the stewards cited them when penalising him again after the Grand Prix.
Though he has accepted the majority of the penalties, Magnussen feels the system needs to be looked at.
"The fact I'm at risk of a race ban for driving outside of some white lines on a piece of tarmac, I don't know if I feel that is right," he said duing today's press conference.
"But it is the way the rules are," he added. "I accept that, but I feel there's room for improvement there, not only in terms of the points.
"There are more races now than there was when they were introduced and I feel you can end up getting a race ban effectively for a very minor thing. So that's what I feel.
"The best thing would be to for the FIA to tell us to give back positions," he continued, "and then the consequence for not doing that being harsh, so you make sure that's being done.
"I think it gets too firstly complicated and also too big a consequence for, you have to be able to leave a bit of room to go over the limit and then come back from that, whereas now if they judge it to be an unfair advantage and it's a drive-through penalty, I think that's not good."
The Dane is also convinced that the increase in asphalt run-off areas isn't helping.
"You mention tracks, that's a big part too," he said. "I raced in IndyCar and also in Sports Cars in America, I did the whole championship in America, and one thing that stood out was the tracks and how unbelievably different they are to F1 tracks. The cars over there, they're low as well, we bounce around in the Sports Cars over there. I don't see that a lot different.
"I'm sitting next to a lot of drivers here, but I feel that we're very sensitive to track stuff in Formula 1. I like the rough tracks, I prefer those, but also to the racing issue, tracks that have grass or gravel on the outside, you put this natural limit in and that sorts itself out. I feel that's also an issue in Formula 1, just the tracks in general."
With the ban looming, Magnussen was asked if he will adapt his driving style in future.
"Next time it's a race ban, so I think I'll have to," he replied. "But I don't know. These situations where I've had to play the support role for my team-mate, they have been paying off. It's been kind of valuable to us.
"I don't love the way the rules are, that it's possible, I would love it to not be possible at all. But since the rules are as they are. I didn't make the rules, I think there's stuff to be looked at there. For myself, I'm on 10 points, so yeah I have to be careful not to get a race ban."
The Dane has the support of his teammate - and former "suck my balls" nemesis - Hulkenberg.
"I'm not exactly aware of the details of how they were all accumulated in every incident," said the German. "But sometimes I think he got a few penalties, I feel, in the last year and a half, since we're here, that you get penalty points and it was not really maybe right or necessary.
"For me in Miami he was racing for a P8 in the Sprint, and that's a point, and for us that's true value and money. So I was not surprised that he was fighting the way he was, and it was not just for me, probably a combination of both.
"Everyone knows Kevin Magnussen is one of the hardest guys to get by," he added, "and I don't understand all the fuss around it to be honest."
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