‘Gone’ verdict delivered as Kevin Magnussen courts F1 race ban
Will Kevin Magnussen still be on the grid in 2025?
Kevin Magnussen may be a “great” guy off the track, but Ralf Schumacher says when the visor comes down all of that is “gone” and it will earn him a race ban before F1 2024 is over.
Haas driver Magnussen has made headlines for all the wrong reasons this season, so much so his antics have Formula 1 stewards urging the FIA to tighten the regulations.
‘Kevin Magnussen wants to run headfirst into the wall’
Magnussen has now twice played defender in order to help his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg score points, but has coloured outside the lines while doing so.
His antics in Jeddah against Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon, in which the Dane went off the track in order to retain his position, were frowned on and earned Magnussen a time penalty while the stewards were a lot more harsh in their verdict in Miami given his multiple transgressions.
That Saturday, Magnussen was hit with several time penalties for exceeding track limits, with a black and white flag given on the third occasion, during his defence against Lewis Hamilton.
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Come the end of the mini race, he was also slapped with penalty points pushing him onto eight, while a further two when he clashed with Logan Sargeant in the grand prix means he’s up to 10.
That’s two away from an automatic race ban.
“He will manage it this year too if he keeps going like this,” Schumacher told the Formula1.de YouTube channel.
Magnussen won’t lose a single point until 9 March next season, leaving the Dane to contest the final two-thirds of the F1 2024 season just two points away from a ban.
He was, at least according to pundits, fortunate not to be hit with those two points in Monaco when he crashed into Sergio Perez on the opening lap.
Sticking his nose up the inside of the Red Bull at a point where one could argue that was ill-advised, the two collided and were out of the race with Nico Hulkenberg the unfortunate victim.
The stewards rules no further action, but Schumacher believes Magnussen was in the wrong.
“Where would Magnussen have gone? He would have been on the outside in the next corner, so I didn’t understand the point of it,” he said.
Declaring that Magnussen always wants to “run headfirst into the wall,” he added: “Outside the cockpit, he is extremely nice and a great family man, but when the visor goes down, you almost get the impression that some of the things that are usually there are gone.
“Now you can say: Yes, Perez might have… but why is Magnussen there with the front wheel? He doesn’t belong there.”
Magnussen’s expected ban has lead to yet more rumours about his future with Haas keen on signing Oliver Bearman as one of their two F1 2025 drivers.
With Nico Hulkenberg heading to Audi, it was initially thought Magnussen could stay to guide the rookie but now Haas are reportedly keen on Esteban Ocon or Zhou Guanyu.
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