Kevin Magnussen remains adamant that Sergio Perez was accountable for their opening-lap clash in Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix, arguing he was entitled to room.
The Haas driver and Perez came to blows on the run-up towards Massenet when Magnussen had attempted to squeeze past the Red Bull racer and the gap narrowed.
Perez careered into the barrier at high speed and his subsequent spin across the track saw him collide with Nico Hulkenberg in the other Haas to put three drivers out.
Magnussen asserted that Perez should have given him more space as the cars climbed the hill past Sainte Devote and that is a view he has maintained a fortnight on.
“I don’t see Checo as a dirty driver or anything,” Magnussen told Autosport. “But I was surprised that he didn’t leave me the room.
“Clearly, he was just pushing me to the wall to intimidate me and have me back out. But that’s certainly not the way we should be racing.
“He can’t argue that he didn’t see me. He saw me. There’s no way around it. He did see me.
“So yeah, that is the reason I kept it flat – because I trusted that he would leave me the space since he’d seen me.”
Magnussen conceded that views on an incident can sometimes change with hindsight, but, on this occasion, he insisted that his original comments were warranted.
“I’ve looked at it many times,” he added.
“It’s always one thing right when it happens, but your view of what happens often changes when you see it from the outside. But in this case, it didn’t change so much.”
The Dane stated that he opted to not back out as his rival had suggested he should have done because he was certain that Perez had realised another car was there.
“He had seen me, and I knew he had seen me,” he recalled. “It’s one thing if you’re not sure he’s seen you, then I perceive the risk as being bigger.
“If I wasn’t sure that he’s seen me, I probably would have just backed off. But it was very clear to me that he had seen me.
“So, I thought okay, he’s going to leave a car width. I trusted that he was going to do that – in hindsight, I shouldn’t have trusted him.
“But that doesn’t change the fact that he didn’t leave a car width.
“Maybe with my experience, I should have known that certain drivers don’t always leave a car width. There is always a risk that they won’t.”
Magnussen also clarified that there was no chance to back out from his overtaking move in a safe manner once he had pulled alongside the Red Bull at racing speed.
“You get to a point where you’re so close to the wall, and his rear wheel comes out, so you’re locked in – because if you brake then, he’s going to hit your front wheel with his rear.
“There is a point of no return and you’re at his mercy.
“Leading up to that, I had full confidence that he had seen me because as soon as I got that momentum, he went to the right to cover me.
“You can see his head. You know, he’s seen me – there’s no doubt. I can go and look at his onboard afterwards – and I can see that he’s checking his mirror several times.
“Had I not been confident that he’d seen me, I would have probably backed out.”
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