An irate Kevin Magnussen sharply criticised Formula 1 rival Kimi Raikkonen for his driving in qualifying at Paul Ricard.
Magnussen’s final flying lap in qualifying was spoiled when Raikkonen overtook him at the start of the lap, then backed off, holding up the Haas driver.
“He overtakes me into turn one and fucks my lap and then doesn’t even complete his lap,” said Magnussen. “If you’re that confused then just try not to get in the way of everyone else,” he added.
The stewards took no action over the incident despite conceding Magnussen was held up by the Ferrari.“I don’t know if what he did was against the rules but surely it’s impossible to predict. Also, if he’s stopping at turn 14, then he’s pushing, then he’s stopping, that’s erratic driving in my mind but I don’t know if it is in the stewards’ minds.”
“The team had no idea what he was doing. I don’t think Kimi knew what he was doing,” he added.
“It’s frustrating what happened. I don’t think it was necessary. He just had no idea what to do. He was desperate to get a lap. He hadn’t done a lap. He fucked all his laps, he was desperate.”
Raikkonen was heard asking on the radio at the time whether he had a puncture, but his team said there was no indication of one. He admitted afterwards the end of his session had been “a mess”.
“I think it was pretty straightforward until Q3 and the first lap was pretty good until turn 11 and then I got a bit sideways. Maybe there was some drops of rain there and it was because of that.
“Then, obviously, the last lap was just a mess all over. Yes, this is what you get when you never put a lap together in the end but until that point it was pretty good. But it’s pretty disappointing.”
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Jere (@jerejj)
24th June 2018, 13:17
I couldn’t agree more with him. The precedent has now been set.
Deej92 (@deej92)
24th June 2018, 14:18
It’s probably erratic driving in the stewards’ minds too Kevin but because it’s Raikkonen they aren’t allowed to penalise him. It’s just one of those unwritten rules every fan knows about regarding bias towards top teams. The FIA in a nutshell.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
24th June 2018, 14:24
Well, while what Kimi did was wrong (and I’m slightly surprised he got away unsanctioned), I must say that maybe now Magnussen will realize what it is to be on the receiving end of another driver’s antics.
Chaitanya
24th June 2018, 14:57
Or he wont learn anything and use this precedent to justify his actions on track. A very bad decision by Stewards handing the sword in hand of a monkey for future.
PRaero
24th June 2018, 14:27
Is it really legal to start so close to another team and do a slipstream overtake on flying lap on start of a flying lap, really? How can you not impeed doing that?
Same when Ham didnt get out of the way 1/4 round in Monaco some seasons ago, smaller teams must expect hard punishment and bery low tolerance.
formevic (@formevic)
24th June 2018, 15:03
It’s time for Kimi to retire. It’s time Ferrari with a very good car finally run with two horses, Charles is ready.
Dale
24th June 2018, 17:27
If there is one driver who has absolutely no room to point any fingers …
Nunu
25th June 2018, 18:41
Rubbish – rules is for everyone- you can’t point fingers at MAG all the time and then let RAI get away with this.. or VET at the start only having a 5 sek stop&go for that mes!
Its so funny how things turns …
Two weeks ago GAS was calling MAG a dangerous driver (because he couldn’t see him in a loose wobling mirror) and yestoday GAS was driving straight into OCO at the start – and MAG was one of a few drivers with a clean start.
They all are egoistic racedrivers who wants to win – thank god for the fans…
Mian
24th June 2018, 18:38
So you sanction that if anyone should be punished, no matter what happened, it Kmag?