Lewis Hamilton praised Kevin Magnussen’s “honest” explanation for the aggressive defensive tactics that led to the Haas driver picking up a series of penalties in the Miami GP Sprint.
In an entertaining, incident-filled 19-lap race, Magnussen and Hamilton engaged in a fierce battle for the final point, with the Haas driver resorting to increasingly desperate measures to retain eighth place from his Mercedes rival.
Magnussen, who was one place behind his Haas team-mate Nico Hülkenberg, received three time penalties totaling 30 seconds from the stewards because he left the track three times and stayed ahead of Hamilton – in the second incident the cars even came into contact .
Magnussen, who also received an additional five-second penalty for repeated breaches of track restrictions, was later called before the stewards for “alleged unsportsmanlike conduct” ahead of the main qualifying session on Saturday evening at 9pm.
Magnussen said he had no concerns about the penalties handed out to him and admitted he had to resort to what he considered “stupid tactics” to keep Hülkenberg ahead in seventh place and avoid being attacked by Hamilton or RB’s Yuki Tsunoda in the final rounds.
“All the punishments were well deserved – there is no doubt about that,” said Magnussen Sky Sports F1. “But I had to play the game again.
“I was in a very good position behind Nico. At the start of the race I made up a lot of positions and was in P8.
“I protected myself well from Lewis because I had Nico’s DRS and had good pace.”
“Then Nico cut off the chicane and I lost the DRS. Nico could have given that back to give me the DRS to protect me, because then we would have easily ended up in P7 and P8.”
“Instead I was really vulnerable to Lewis. I started fighting him like crazy and just had to close the gap like I did in Jeddah.”
“I started using these stupid tactics that I don’t like to do, but at the end of the day I did my job as a team player and Nico got his points because I gave him the lead so Lewis and Tsunoda didn’t catch him could.” him.
“Not at all the way I like to race, but it was what I had to do today.”
Lewis Hamilton would say “Bravo” to Magnussen at the end
When presented with Magnussen’s comments, Hamilton gave an elegant response to the Dane’s argument.
“I think that’s pretty honest of him – and I think that’s pretty cool,” said the seven-time champion.
“We had a good race. It was a little tight in some places, but that’s what I love. I love riding hard and as far as I’m concerned I wasn’t really frustrated or anything.”
“That’s what you do, working together as a team, so bravo.”
Although Magnussen’s position defense in the third incident was enough to put Hamilton behind Tsunoda, the Mercedes driver eventually overtook the Haas and then, on the final lap, the RB, crossing the finish line in eighth place.
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Miami GP sprint highlights
However, there was an almost immediate sting in the rear for the Mercedes driver when race management handed Hamilton a 20-second time penalty instead of a drive-through penalty after it was discovered that he had been driving too fast in the pit lane when the safety check took place on the car had led the field in the first laps of the race on the residential road.
Ironically, Hamilton had been instrumental in the first corner incident that triggered the safety car after he came into contact with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso while attempting to move to the inside, an impact that caused a chain reaction of several Cars started and ended with the resignations of Lando Norris and Lance Stroll.
Sky Sports F1’s live Miami GP schedule
Saturday, May 4th
8:00 p.m.: Miami GP qualifying preparation*
9:00 p.m.: Miami GP Qualifying*
11:00 p.m.: Ted’s Qualification Notebook*
Sunday, May 5th
6:05 p.m.: F1 Academy Race 2
7:30 p.m.: Preparation for the Grand Prix Sunday Miami GP*
9 p.m.: The MIAMI GRAND PRIX*
11 p.m.: Checkered flag: Miami GP reaction*
Midnight: Ted’s Notebook*
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event
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