Magnussen fuming with time penalty in Russia: "This is bulls***"
F1 News
- Nicolás Quarles van Ufford
After getting dealt a five-second time penalty during the Russian Grand Prix which dropped him down to ninth place, Haas driver Kevin Magnussen called out the stewards for the "bulls***" decision, as the Dane got penalised for going the wrong way around the bollard at turn 2.
Magnussen was in a hard battle for seventh place with Sergio Pérez when he ran wide at the opening chicane of the Sochi Autodrom under late braking. He missed the kerbstones altogether. For instances like that, stewards have placed bollards between which you have to rejoin the track to avoid a penalty, something Magnussen failed to do.
The Dane went onto team radio to let Haas know it would have been dangerous to brake and go round the bollards, but he got his penalty regardless. After the race, he gave his two cents.
"This is bulls***," the 26-year-old was quoted by Motorsport.com.
"We have this Turn 2, which is a crap corner. It's just stupid. You know, just make it… put gravel there, or something.
"I'm not a safety expert, and I never will be, but I think the way it happened today was I missed that corner, went through a load of crap off-line on the run-off and lost a hell of a lot of time and got penalised by my own fault.
"The FIA didn't have to do anything because I didn't completely miss [turn 2]. It wasn't black and white, and yet they choose to give me a penalty."
Magnussen still finished in ninth place, giving him his first points since Germany. It takes his points tally for the season up to 20, pushing him past Lance Stroll, who has 19. Magnussen's teammate Romain Grosjean, who crashed out of the Russian Grand Prix in the first lap, still has eight points.