Kevin Magnussen, Haas, Circuit de Catalunya, 2020

Magnussen and Ocon summoned to stewards over crash in practice

2020 Spanish Grand Prix

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Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Ocon have been summoned to the stewards after the Renault driver crashed while trying to avoid his rival.

Ocon hit a wall at the inside of the straight between turns three and four as he swerved to avoid Magnussen.

The Renault driver had just joined the track following a practice start when the incident happened. He was told “Magnussen behind” as he left the pit lane. “Watch for Magnussen, Magnussen timed lap.”

Magnussen then slowed and pulled off the racing line in between turns three and four. Ocon slowed behind him, but then swerved right as the gap between them closed, spinning into the wall.

“Magnussen braked, the car is crashed completely,” he said on the radio after the car came to a stop. “I let past Magnussen because he is on a timed lap and he decelerated.”

Renault appear to have been mistaken that Magnussen was on a timed lap. The Haas driver said “box now” after he completed the previous lap. He had been told Raikkonen was on a fast lap behind him as he approached Ocon and George Russell, who left the pits together.

Magnussen was not given any instructions regarding Ocon. However he did appear to react to the Renault behind him, pulling back onto the racing line as Ocon spun into the wall. Ocon in turn appeared to keep looking at his mirrors prior to the collision.

Ocon and Magnussen were summoned to see the stewards at 13:30 local time, an hour and a half before the start of qualifying.

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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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20 comments on “Magnussen and Ocon summoned to stewards over crash in practice”

  1. A bad precedent will be set if Magnussen doesn’t get anything for his dangerous move.

    1. @jerejj what bad move. read the article. Ocon and Renault assumed, mag was on a hot lap, he was not, simple misunderstanding.

      1. @peartree He knew all well that Ocon is close behind as he had just passed him shortly before, so shouldn’t have suddenly decelerated without an apparent reason.

        1. @jerejj @uzsjgb and mvff super slow-mo brake test. Meanwhile there is a riot on the comment section. These things happen on the road, everyday! no illuminatti, just plain old reality, Ocon was snoozing when he realised mag was there, he locked up into the right.

      2. Pulling in front of another driver and braking in the middle of the road with no reason at all. This is so absurd, that I initially thought Magnussen was brake-testing Ocon for ruining his fast lap. But since Magnussen was not on a fast lap I cannot come up with any explanation why he would do that.

        Very dangerous driving. A grid penalty would not be enough with Haas being at the back anyway. As a repeat offender a race ban would be appropriate.

        1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          15th August 2020, 13:01

          He didn’t look to visibly break, to me he looked to pull off the racing line and slow down – which made sense as he would assume Ocon would go to the left. But Ocon for some reason stayed behind him. I’ll be honest here, I really don’t see how Magnussen was at fault. The article even says Magnussen looked to be aware of Ocon as he pulled back onto the racing line when he realised Ocon had misjudged the situation.

          Ocon just had a bizarre reaction. If Magnussen braked (which certainly wasn’t that sudden), why didn’t he do the same rather than steering into the wall?

      3. Kevin moved in the direction of Ocon and then he give him a break test!

        1. After speaking to the drivers the stewards ruled: “Magnussen lifted and slowed using ERS harvesting; there was no use of the brakes that contributed to the accident. This was confirmed with telemetry.”

          Haas had told Magnussen that Kimi Raikkonen behind him was on a quick lap. “Magnussen pulled gently off line, having been advised of following traffic on fast laps,” the stewards noted.

          “At the same time Ocon was also moving to the right to let traffic by and was looking in his mirrors for the cars following. When he subsequently looked forward, he was surprised to see Magnussen directly ahead of him and swerved to avoid a collision.

  2. Here is where Magnussen got it completely wrong and why he needs to be sanctioned.
    He slowed completely on the racing line indirectly communicating to the driver behind him to go to his right. Then at a now very reduced speed then tried to get of the racing line indicating he was moving over to the right, making the driver forcing the driver behind to pause his initial motion to the right, then Magnussen now slowed down further in the middle of the track.

  3. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
    15th August 2020, 12:56

    I don’t think Magnussen was responsible here. He started to move out the way clearly expecting Ocon to go to the left of him. IMO, Ocon had about 2 seconds to react where he appeared to have lost concentration. He kept following directly behind when he easily had time to go to the left in the space Magnussen had provided. I don’t think there will be any penalty or reprimand coming Magnussen’s way myself. I think Ocon just had a delayed reaction.

    1. Ocon could not go left, because a car on it’s fast lap was coming behind him. That is the reason Ocon pulled off the racing line.

      1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
        15th August 2020, 13:04

        @uzsjgb
        I’m confused. Was Ocon not on a fast lap? If he was, I still don’t know why he didn’t just go to the left of magnussen. You shouldn’t ahve to watch out for cars behind on a fast lap. If he wasn’t on a fast lap, then he didn’t need to be going this quickly past magnussen.

        1. Reading the article may help with your confusion.

  4. Where are all the K-Mag fangirls now that this year this driver has taken the crown from Grosjean for underperforming and a dangerous driver.

    1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      15th August 2020, 13:09

      I don’t think either are underperforming. But they both don’t respect the rules at times. Saying that though, Grosjean doesn’t have a single penalty point and Hamilton not that long ago had more than anyone.

      Both these drivers can often be quick and I think it is a mix of the inexperienced team or poor car that makes it look like the drivers are under performing. Very few of their retirements have been related to the drivers – or with them fully at fault.

  5. I mean what the hell was Kevin doing. Wouldn’t be surprised if he leaves F1 at the end of 2020 and goes into WEC.

  6. I agree Magnussen is usually careless and sometimes even dangerous but this time I’m not sure he was fully at fault. I mean, he moved off the racing line quite early, and Icon wasn’t going at full pace either. He seemed to react to Magnussen by lining his car perfectly to the Haas, and very late too….

  7. Thought it looked bad for Magnussen at first but having seen the onboard from Ocon, where he clearly wasn’t looking where he was going, I’m more inclined to say Ocon inflicted it on himself.

  8. I dislike Magnussen and wish he’d be replaced with someone else. Having written that, those of you blaming him for this crash are amusing. He pulled off the racing line, didn’t brake and Ocon was not looking ahead at the critical moment.

    You are a funny bunch.

  9. After speaking to the drivers the stewards ruled: “Magnussen lifted and slowed using ERS harvesting; there was no use of the brakes that contributed to the accident. This was confirmed with telemetry.”

    Haas had told Magnussen that Kimi Raikkonen behind him was on a quick lap. “Magnussen pulled gently off line, having been advised of following traffic on fast laps,” the stewards noted.

    “At the same time Ocon was also moving to the right to let traffic by and was looking in his mirrors for the cars following. When he subsequently looked forward, he was surprised to see Magnussen directly ahead of him and swerved to avoid a collision.

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