Kevin Magnussen, Haas, Baku City Circuit, 2018

Furious Gasly calls Magnussen “the most dangerous guy I’ve ever raced”

2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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Pierre Gasly described Kevin Magnussen as the most dangerous driver he’s ever raced against after the pair collided in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Toro Rosso and Haas made contact at over 300kph during the final restart, leaving Gasly with damage.

“Kevin is the most dangerous guy I have ever raced with,” said Gasly after the race. “He literally put me in the wall at 300kph at the restart and completely ruined [my] race.”

Gasly was trying to overtake Magnussen for the final points place when they collided.

“We were P11 so I knew points was on the table. I was going to pass him just before the Safety Car line one, I went on the side and he just put me in the wall right in the middle and took half of my floor out. Both my front wheels went in the air and I broke my right mirror and bent my steering as well.

“After that I was just trying to survive until the end of the race. There was no point to race after that.”

Gasly said he was sceptical of Magnussen’s claim he couldn’t see the Toro Rosso because he was suffering from vibrations.

Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, Baku City Circuit, 2018
2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in pictures
“He did all the race like this so he knew exactly what he was doing and he literally put me in the wall.

“He’s been always like this, he’s been always racing hard. I don’t mind racing drivers which are hard but like this is just way over the limit. You don’t put someone in the wall at 300kph.”

Gasly had another run-in with Magnussen in first practice at the same point on the circuit and the Haas driver has been the focus of criticism from other drivers before. However FIA race director Charlie Whiting isn’t prepared to single the Haas driver out for special attention.

“I tend to try to look at things in isolation,” said Whiting. “I think what Kevin did today was incorrect and he was duly penalised.”

“I think Pierre was complaining about was he appeared to have done it again after the first contact. I haven’t yet looked at the video but I will do when I go back.”

Magnussen received a 10-second time penalty for the collision and was given two penalty points on his licence. “I will go to see Charlie and see my onboard [camera] and then after we’ll see if it’s only two,” added Gasly.

As it stands Magnussen now has eight penalty points. Drivers receive a one-race ban if they reach 12 points within a 12-month period.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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59 comments on “Furious Gasly calls Magnussen “the most dangerous guy I’ve ever raced””

  1. Anyone got a clip of the incident?

    1. Agree, let’s see the incident before we juch anybody.

      But the rookie kid Gastly has, with his hi note teenage voice, already proved to his big talent as a dramaqueen in front of the cameras.

    2. FOM have now released the onboards from both cars.

      It seems to me, not only is Gasly correct, but a 10 second time penalty for this is not enough. A 20 or even 30 second post-race time penalty (drive through / stop-go equivalent) would have been more appropriate. That was a blatant swipe and they were very lucky that wasn’t a huge accident

      1. digitalrurouni
        30th April 2018, 14:09

        And you could see him look left both times before hitting the other car. What an ass.

        1. I agree with @strontium. It will be too late when he causes a major accident and someone is injured.

        2. He did not hit anything – notice his sterring wheel is not moving to the left as Gasly tries to overtake him on the OUTSIDE of a corner. He looks in both mirrors well knowing they both show distorted views because of the massive vibrations caused by Mag being rammed by Ericsson in lap 1 turn 2. I don’t see you critize this or take this into account. What about Hulkenbergs collison with Sirotkin? Any comments on that?

      2. You are completely wrong.
        GAS lifts several times behind MAG, then tries to complete the pass, but cannot as his Honda runs out of grunt, just as he leaves the slipstream from MAG. That leaves him right in MAG’s blindspot, which you can clearly see on the video. Further to this GAS tries again once more despite knowledge that the track narrows further down the straight, and that his car cannot do this on power alone. Then he tries on the outside, and overshoots completely. GAS clearly lacks racecraft, or ability to judge his cars ability vs. his opponents. That said, MAG should leave room for at least a car width to the left, which he fails to do, and rightly gets a penalty. It is very clear that you have no racing experience.

        1. Jimmie in LA (@)
          30th April 2018, 22:16

          I’m with TP.
          Gas seems to be a typical rookie in thinking that everyone must get outta his way. Seems a total racing incident as Mag lost him in a blind spot.

        2. At 0:07 you can clearly see Magnussen moved left, only slightly but the perfect amount to squeeze Gasly, which is where the contact was. On the onboard with Magnussen you can see him veering over to the left instead of continuing his racing line. That’s very bad situational awareness and racecraft from Magnussen.

          The second moment further down the straight I agree there was no gap because the wall closes in. Gasly knew this and he backed out of it, that’s not a big deal.

          You are completely wrong […] MAG should leave room for at least a car width to the left, which he fails to do, and rightly gets a penalty. It is very clear that you have no racing experience.

          I find it bizarre that you seem to ‘agree’ Magnussen was wrong here yet still think I am completely wrong and feel the need to make a comment about my own racing experience, of which you know nothing about. There is no need to behave that way here, but each to their own.

          I’m looking at it based on similar incidents in the past. Although they are rare, such incidents have been given a more severe penalty

          1. You can also see on Mag’s onboard video, that he did not steer into Gasly.

  2. Vettel fan 17 (@)
    29th April 2018, 21:42

    8 points? KMAG cutting it fine

    1. @vettelfan17 Indeed. For the record the most anyone’s reached is 10, which was Kvyat last year:

      https://www.racefans.net/2017/07/29/kvyat-reaches-ten-penalties-points-gets-grid-penalty/

      That was three races before Toro Rosso showed him the door…

      1. Well, lets be honest here, he is a lot of fun isn’t he?

      2. Vettel fan 17 (@)
        29th April 2018, 23:03

        I was genuinely expecting Kvyat to pick up a race ban after Hungary, but he was dropped before that could happen.

      3. Fortunately Kevin is due to drop a penalty point (collected in Russia last year, on April 30th, for leaving the track) in just under 2 hours’ time, because of the 12-month rule.

        So as long as Kevin can avoid getting more than one penalty before the German Grand Prix (race 11, so that means keeping the nose mostly clean for another 6 races), he should be fine. He’s averaged one penalty that incurs penalty points every 5 races, so that should be within his capabilities.

      4. @Joao. Well spotted.
        So you think MAX might are on his way out, Max also just took VET out like Kvyat, Max version though a little worse as VET was in front late in race and had a much quicker car/tire combo while doing it, and to top up in bonus just took away RIC as well now for the second time, and adding constant crashing lately, very similar to Kvyat I must say.
        I hope not though, since Max & Mag are some of the best racers on grid, I never pick up some coffee, when they are in a battle:)

  3. How have I missed this? Questioned to myself what happened to Gasly, as he was confortably inthe points at some stage of the race, and all of a sudden he was at the bottom of the field

    1. Well it was about the time Vettel outbraked himself, so cameras were on him and the leaders.

    2. @johnmilk I had no idea about this either, they didn’t show it on the live feed. But it would explain perfectly where the debris that caused Bottas’ puncture came from (@kartguy07 ). It’s possible that Charlie Whiting was unaware of it, just like we were, hence why no marshals were sent out to clear it before the field came back around the next lap

  4. ….and folks wonder why MCL dropped him so swiftly.

    1. I thought it was because they produced a rubbish car and needed a fall guy.

      1. Gasly disagrees!!

        1. @Sam If Gasley can’t take the heat, he should move out of the kitchen, “and folks wonder why MCL dropped him so swiftly.” Which folks are you referring to? I am sure that it is only you that subscribes to such rubbish.

          1. temper Angela temper….its only sport…

          2. Says the one that provoked on the first place…

          3. TP;
            I don’t think I was that “provoking”. He has 8 points on his license!!! My point was that perhaps he is too aggressive to be a first class driver (still, being in F1 IS special, don’t get me wrong). No one was saying he was good until this season. As I recall, more often than not, I would read about other drivers complaining about how aggressive he is (something I rarely saw on TV as he always fought in the back, out of TV coverage).
            Apology if I ruined anyone’s day.

    2. Yeah, why did MCL drop him, they do hold the master in good decisions the last 10 years. Answer, they had to, and I and most would have done the same, so maybe that desicion actually was not one of ususal McL standard….
      Honda offered to pay Alonso´s salory instead of Mag´s………, most teams at the time would have taken that deal with almost if not any driver. If disagree, wel, at least, not many drivers with 1 year on the back had survived that offer while the team in same glance gets a works team status and Alo for free….
      Mag vs BUT: Mag only did well in the first half of season against Button, until they kicked in the radioban mid season, that really hurt all rookies a lot, no training for this had been in place to cover for the help all drivers got from team over radio
      Now it seems allowed radio communication has opened up a lot. Remember Bono was not allowed to tell very frustrated HAM any setting, so even Ham strugled, so I quess Mag relative to BUT was alone outthere 2. part of season due to lack of experience with 10+ advanced buttons, now they do setting over radio all the time again.

  5. Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
    29th April 2018, 21:48

    AH, no race is complete without F1’s very own nutcase.
    magnussen should go drive for Haas. In NASCAR. His antics fit a lot better there, and besides, his dad drives in the USA too

    1. Well Dutchguy, maybe Verstappen should go back to his gokart then ;-)

      1. I think he prefers bumpercars or something

      2. Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
        30th April 2018, 8:40

        @racefan
        Nah, Verstappen should do just fine in Nascar as well

        1. @racefan @justarandomdutchguy how about destruction derby

      3. Well, my family was confused as to why there were no non-British drivers in the British Touring Car championship. Maybe that’s an option for Max if he does not wish to change his driving style?

  6. Along with Verstappen, Magnussen is the paddock’s recognised imbecile who has no respect for other drivers and never races fairly.

    1. And you know that from where?

  7. So is this where the debris that got Bottas came from?

  8. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    29th April 2018, 22:32

    That’s saying a lot considering Gasly’s close call with Hartley yesterday!

  9. Wasn’t it Hartley who was most dangerous to Gasly.

    Welcome to the big boys league… :-)

    1. No they both miss read each other. Hartly moved left to get out the way at the same time Gasley went to the left. Hartley saw that in his mirrors so moved right just as Gasley moved right.
      It was like when you walk toward someone on the footpath and you both jink in the same direction a few times.

      Hartley was trying keep out if the way using his mirrors, and Gasley was trying to get past at 300 kph.

      If Hartley was a bit more on the left it would have been fine but at the same point if Gasley had moved out to the right a more logical path, it would have neen fine.

    2. @jens That was once. It was a big “once”, but still…

  10. When Gas teams with Ves next year..l beleive Max will raise Gas’s benchmark for “the most dangerous guy l have raced against” Gas needs to calm his farm, he is sounding like Seb on the radio!

    1. Yeah – while I honestly didnt see the incident yet, even if Magnussen overstepped a line he was punished by fairly conventional means.. stewards didnt think it was reason to be hysterical. But the word hysterical comes to mind because every time we hear Gasly on the radio, even if he is the one doing the crashing in China.. its always the same high pitch!

  11. This particular incident was never shown on the world feed, not even once as a ‘replay footage.’

  12. Magnussen had a damaged floor which was probably affecting his control over that Haas. Also, Magnussen the most dangerous? Has Gasly seen what the sister team drivers are doing?

    1. In fairness, the sister team drivers have yet to treat Gasly that way… …mostly they seem to reserve that stuff for each other…

  13. Just wondering, how many has Gasly actually raced against?

    1. He raced for two seasons against Sette Carmassias, who is well-known to F2 followers as a crash magnet.

  14. On lap 1, corner 2, Magnussen was hit by Ericsson – removing essentially all aero parts on Magnussen’s left side of the car. Ericsson was later duly penalized for the incident, but for Magnussen it meant his race was destroyed from this point. No downforce, earlier braking, lots of vibrations making his mirrors useless, etc. Probably the main reasons for the later incident with Gasly.

    However, Magnussen did take the battered car to the race end – just in case enough of the other cars would crash out to win a point. And he almost succeeded.

    Gasly – stop whining, grow a couple of balls (like KMag’s). :-o

    1. The video underlines KMag’s statement, that “I had so many vibrations in the car that the mirrors were useless, I couldn’t see anything at all.” Notice the dangling mirrors when we see the onboard action from Kevin’s car.

  15. Kevin has a new guy who he has a feud with.

  16. Magnussen is hated by the whole grid, even more than Verstappen. In many way VER and MAG are similar they are both super aggressive and tough to overtake, with one notable difference: Max is usually brillant with brainless moments whereas Kevin is usually brainless with brilliant moments…

    1. + 1 I like it.

    2. Forza Maldonado
      1st May 2018, 0:10

      Agreed. Max has time to iron out the issues and refine his craft while Kevin is in all likelihood at or near his peak.

      1. And you know the whole grid hates him.. Impliying you know the whole grid? Keep in mind, that the media blows the story about Mag’s Agressive driving style way out of proportions. What do you think about Hulkenbergs move on Sirotkin? Every driver in the grid drives harsh, and unlike Gasly, Magnussen hasn’t rammed his teammate off the track in a brainless overtaking opportunity.

        In the video it shows that Mag’s sterring wheel is not turning at the incident with Gasly. Mag stated that his mirrors where useless also over the radio – STRH should have told Gasly this so he wasn’t incouraged to overtake on the outside of a corner, which everybody knows is the hero line when overtaking. Going on the outside you should always expect the door to be closed.
        https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/headlines/2018/4/video-f1-gasly-magnussen-dangerous-azerbaijan.html

    3. How do you know that he is hated by everyone? Just a poor comment or any documentation?
      To my knowledge in that race, Mag was rammed on lap one with no comments from anybody. Car was undriveable, but still he has the responsible to give space for any car, even if it was not easy to see with those levels of vibrations. Even without vibrations, distance in mirror was never easy. The unsual long time he looked to left could be because it was not easy to see clearly, but only Mag knows. If he has continued a little longer, looking to left, he would have gone to the wall himself, this was his direction.
      In this race, Max was doing the dual moves as he is known for, as well as Mag has done before, (and Alonso….) reffering to your ratio of brainless vs brilliant:).
      Mag did not put a foot wrong so far this season, whereas Max has been really poor for quite som time, and directly destroyed others races for real, like VET and RIC.
      Hard drivers like Max & Mag have always, in history of F1, been under critics from fellow drivers and their fans, who of course prefor the more “easy” collegaues. If you like the soft guys more thats fine, everybody has their taste, to mee they make fantastic races and on grid for the moment the best racers are Max and Mag:)

  17. Before being too harsh, look a couple of times on Mags line, he was going the same straight path as the cars in front of him, and I believe it could be difficult to judge the correct distance in that mirror and with himself under same vibrations. Its still his fault however, and he got the penalty, whether he can see correct distance or not.
    I understand Hasley´s comment since he “thinks” this was on pourpose, but whatever you think about others says more about you than it says about the others. This is always true, good or bad.
    He didnt even talk to Mag or tried to find out, so we have to see during season if Hasley is a whiiner.
    Mag did not complain about the ERI rambuk on lab one, who ruined his race loosing everything left side.
    I think Mag know this is never or purpose, but still very irretating.

  18. Addition to above, the straight line is going closer to the left, slowly over the white line to the left, with obviously no room for others.

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