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Stewards seek guidance as Magnussen cleared

NEWS STORY
05/05/2024

While clearing Kevin Magnussen of "unsportsmanlike behaviour" the Miami stewards are to raise their concerns with the FIA that the regulations need tweaking.

Though his antics kept most of us entertained - even Lewis Hamilton - the Miami stewards were not impressed by Kevin Magnussen during the Sprint.

Other than three 10 second penalties for leaving the track and gaining an advantage as he battled the Mercedes driver, the Dane was also hit with a further 5 second penalty for continued violations of the track limits.

Speaking in the moments after the race, Magnussen (unwisely) admitted that all four penalties were "well deserved", the Dane adding: "I started using these stupid tactics, which I don't like doing, but at the end of the day, I did my job as a team player."

Opinion among fans, fellow drivers and team bosses was divided, while the stewards subsequently summoned the Haas driver for "alleged unsportsmanlike behaviour".

The stewards later explained that "the driver candidly explained that he thought that he was entitled to race with Hamilton in the manner that he did and also that he was willing to accept what he considered to be standard penalties that would have been imposed on him for any infringements that occurred while he was battling for position.

"He was also of the view that building a gap between himself and the cars ahead (notably his teammate, Nico Hulkenberg) was perfectly within the regulations and it was not uncommon for a driver to seek to assist his team-mate in the course of a race by doing so.

"He did not at any point in time think that what he was doing was wrong or that it was in any way unsportsmanlike. He highlighted that the Stewards would typically not increase the severity of the penalties for repeat offences."

Concurring that there was "no clear evidence of an intention to behave in a manner that can be said to be unsportsmanlike", the stewards cleared the driver of the charge, but nonetheless expressed concern at the "way in which Car 20 was driven".

Indeed, given that Magnussen repeatedly committed the same offence the stewards feel that moving forward more power should be granted in order to punish such deliberate actions.

"Moving forward, the stewards will need to consider if, in appropriate situations, especially in the case of repeat infringements, the penalties to be applied for each infringement need to be increased to discourage scenarios such as those that we found today," they said. "This is something that we will raise explicitly with the FIA and the stewarding team."

Among those expressing anger at Magnussen's actions was McLaren boss, Andrea Stella.

"For me it's actually relatively simple because we have a case of a behaviour being intentional in terms of damaging another competitor," he told reporters. "This behaviour is perpetuated within the same race and repeated over the same season.

"How can penalties be cumulative? They should be exponential," he continued. "It's not five plus five plus five equals 15, five plus five plus five equals maybe you need to spend a weekend at home with your family, reflect on your sportsmanship and then go back.

"And if we see that you become loyal, fair and sportsman-like, to your fellow competitors then you can stay in this business. It's completely unacceptable.

"I guess the penalty points is still in place," he added, as he suggested that the rules need changing. "It is in place so I don't know exactly the situation for some drivers. I have to confess. But it definitely may mean that the metrics might have to be adjusted.

"Damaging intentionally the race of competitors just makes no sense from a sportsmanship point of view and this should be addressed immediately because if you are out of the points and you get 20 seconds or whatever at the end of your race it doesn't make any difference. But for the competitors you have damaged you have put them out of their race. Again, in a deliberate, perpetuated and repeated way. This is completely unacceptable.

"I want to reiterate that these values of being fair... it's a sport, it's a competition we need to give everyone a fair chance to compete. These values need to be taken into account in creating the appropriate set of regulations.

"But I'm sure the FIA will look into that and will come up with a sensible proposal for the Sporting Advisory Committee to evaluate and hopefully this will become soon either rules or guidelines that the stewards can apply."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Miami here.

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READERS COMMENTS

 

1. Posted by Chester, 05/05/2024 18:17

"Just not sure here. I watched the F1 TV broadcast and Coulthard thought the gaining an advantage penalty should not have been issued.
Magnussen has always been an elbows out driver. But only when defending against Hamilton doe sit garner headlines and oodles of comments directed at Magnussen.
Maybe Alonso is correct on bias."

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2. Posted by Mad Matt, 05/05/2024 16:42

"@Burton: I tend to agree on all points.... I'm aso not sure what prevented them from giving Kevin a stop and go penalty, or a drive through.

I admire stout defending (Fernando in Brazil) and I know it's a fine line between that and going too far but it's not like Kevin stpped over the line only once..."

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3. Posted by Burton, 05/05/2024 14:09

"The FIA and the sport itself certainly have the tendency to repeatedly shoot themselves in the foot, but in this instance this is a bit rich from the stewards.
Why do they need guidance to do their jobs? Hamilton's infringement was the first to happen (speeding in the pitlane), it's a black/white thing not open to interpretation, and instead of issuing the penalty immediately, they waited until the end of the sprint. Maybe knowing Lewis has a penalty makes Magnussen drive in a slightly less stupid way.
Zhou jumped into the fastlane and they gave him a reprimand, Gasly did the same and was cleared. Then they let a team off the hook for servicing the cars without helmets on because "everyone does it"?!

If Liuzzi is so terrified of doing his job (see also Brazil '21) maybe instead of calling out his own boss he should just quit."

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4. Posted by Batman, 05/05/2024 13:41

"Other than a certain Kvyat who quickly gained the call sign " the torpedo man", every time he thought that there was a gap for him at the very first corner, Andrea Stella is notably omiting that was one of his own drivers that saw his race ended from consequences of a certain "arriving like a bull". Paraphrasing Stella,
"But for the competitors you have damaged you have put them out of their race." Of course, Andrea his entitled and has the right to express his own opinions, but its comments reveal a distracted man, soneone out of focus of his team own interests. I'm not defending the "perpetuation" of gaining advantage or track limits infringement, but I'm still backing the fighter DNA Magnussen has got. What I don't like is the unacceptable dual judgments."

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