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Kevin Magnussen (Source: Twitter/X)
Saturday’s Sprint race has been eventful and cautious here in Florida. From Lando Norris’ collision saga to Kevin Magnussen’s strategic maneuvers there have been a lot of talking points. However, Magnussen’s antics helped his team earn a point in the sprint race while forcing him to face four-time penalties.
It all came as a result of a fierce battle between Magnussen and Lewis Hamilton. After an early safety car period, Magnussen was in eighth place, trailing teammate Hulkenberg's Haas and leading Hamilton's struggling Mercedes. Initially unable to challenge Magnussen due to Mercedes' speed issues, Hamilton finally made his move at Turn 11.
However, Magnussen's off-track excursion after a DRS attack caused contact with Hamilton. On Lap 14, another incident at Turn 11 forced both cars off, allowing Tsunoda to pass Hamilton. For all these antics Magnussen received multiple time penalties, dropping him to 17th place, while Hulkenberg secured seventh. Despite the penalties, Magnussen didn't apologize for his actions.
Kevin Magnussen calls his tactics ‘stupid’!
Speaking about the antics Magnussen said that he did stupid things for his team and all penalties were deserved. "All the penalties were well-deserved, but I had to play the [team] game again," Magnussen told Sky Sports F1.
"I was in a very good position behind Nico Hulkenberg, and at the beginning of the race, I gained a lot of positions and was up in P8. I was protecting well from Lewis because I had the DRS from Nico, and had good pace, then Nico cut the chicane and I lost the DRS.
"Nico could have given that back to give me the DRS to defend because we would have easily been P7 and P8. Instead, I was pretty vulnerable with Lewis, fighting with him like crazy and I had to create the gap as I did in Jeddah and start using these stupid tactics," he added.
"At the end of the day, I don't like doing them, but I did my job as a team player and Nico scored his points because I got that gap for him, so Lewis and Yuki Tsunoda couldn't catch him. It is not the way I like to go racing, but it is what I had to do today."