During the sprint race for the Miami GP, Kevin Magnussen managed to collect no less than 35 seconds of time penalty and four penalty points in 19 laps. After the sprint race, Magnussen was investigated for ‘unsportsmanlike behaviour’, but the Dane escaped punishment for this. However, the stewards in Miami want the FIA to take additional measures to prevent and punish ‘unsportsmanlike behaviour’ in F1.
Magnussen received various time penalties and penalty points for various incidents during the sprint race, usually for ‘leaving the track and gaining an advantage’. After the race, Magnussen made it clear that he had deliberately ‘played the team game’, to help teammate Nico Hulkenberg get points.
In fact, it came down to Magnussen trying to hold up the cars behind him as much as possible so that Hulkenberg was assured of points. The Dane went all out and, according to the stewards, therefore also over the limit. The big question, however, was whether there was ‘unsportsmanlike behaviour’.
The stewards said they would investigate Magnussen to determine how he had deliberately broken the rules to give his team or team-mate an advantage and, if so, whether that was a breach of the rules.
Ultimately, a very long hearing followed with Kevin Magnussen and officials from the Haas F1 team. The stewards then decided that the actions taken by Magnussen were not so serious that they should be classified as ‘unsportsmanlike behaviour’. However, in a statement, the stewards also said that “establishing unsportsmanlike behavior is something very serious and that clear evidence must therefore be found.”
However, the stewards also indicated that the current rules may not be sufficient to identify and properly punish such infringements. Therefore, this will be discussed further with the FIA. According to the stewards, among other things, consideration should be given to whether, in the event of repeated infringements of the same type, the penalty should not increase to discourage such behavior.
Magnussen told the stewards “that he believed he had the right to race Hamilton in his way and that he was of the opinion that he should accept what he considered to be the standard penalties for any infringements he might commit in his battle with Hamilton.”
“He also felt that opening a gap between himself and the cars in front of him was perfectly within the applicable rules and that it was not unusual for a driver to help a team-mate during a race.”
“At no time did Magnussen believe that what he did was wrong or that it was unsportsmanlike conduct.”
Ultimately, the stewards indeed decided to go along with that reasoning, but they do want to discuss together with the FIA what can be done in the future to identify and ban ‘unsportsmanlike behavior’ from the sport.