Kevin Magnussen has urged Formula 1‘s stewards to be more lenient and stop “punishing ridiculous things” as he returns from a race ban at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Magnussen’s clash with Pierre Gasly at Monza earlier this month saw him accumulate 12 penalty points over a rolling 12-month period to earn a one-race suspension.
The Dane’s absence allowed Ferrari protege and Haas reserve Oliver Bearman, who will race for the team in 2025, to deputise in Baku and he scored a point with 10th.
Magnussen has admitted that he tuned in to watch the race in Azerbaijan, but he also took the opening to recharge his batteries ahead of the remaining seven rounds.
“It was a weekend off,” Magnussen told media including Motorsport Week. “A little extra bonus weekend off with the family.
“So, in many ways, nice to have that little surprise holiday.
“But yeah, I watched some of the race, I had it on in my gym on Sunday. And kind of was watching with half an eye with training.
“So tried to switch my mind off. I took the opportunity to have a nice weekend off.”
Asked whether he was involved, Magnussen replied: “No, I let them know before the race that if there’s anything; I’m here ready to help out with advice or input or whatever.
“I switched off completely. It was a nice weekend off for me.”
Magnussen has denied that having a probable race ban lingering over his head since the Miami Grand Prix impacted how he went racing in the rounds up until Monza.
“You get punished, and then you come back, and you’re like all ready to… f**k s**t up now!” Magnussen quipped.
“It’s funny how that works. In a way, it hasn’t really affected me.
“I think with those points, it was annoying to have the knowledge that the next time anything happens, there’s a race ban. It’s nice to know that’s not a factor any more.
“But I actually don’t think it has affected me in how I’ve driven. I’ve really tried to say look, I need to crack on here, and whatever happens happens.”
Magnussen wants F1 to become less regulated
The ex-McLaren protege has expressed that the sport has become overregulated when it comes to wheel-to-wheel racing compared to when he started back in 2014.
“I haven’t seen what’s been said, but it’s nice if that’s the case,” Magnussen responded when told about his colleagues’ voicing support.
“That my own opinion is it’s not a great situation for F1, I think, to restrict racing in that way.
“It feels bad when the sport you love so much changes in a way you don’t appreciate.
“I think I’m certainly one that, I like hard racing, and I think that’s a big part of the beauty of motorsport, is the battles.
“The on the limit and slightly over, that balance between going slightly over and under the limit is what makes your race.
“At the moment, it feels like they’re punishing ridiculous things.
“I’d like to see, personally as a Formula 1 fan, I’d like to see the sport open up again and allowing the great racing that can be seen on track.”
Magnussen has concurred with other drivers in calling upon the FIA to revise the penalty points structure, although he concedes that it represents a complex situation.
“The penalty points thing is… a slightly strange one,” he acknowledged
“Maybe it would be better to kind of give race bans for extraordinarily dangerous driving, or for a specific incident, and not like accumulate.
“It can get into situations where you get punished harder than others because, like in my case, I came into the season with zero points,
accumulated all of them, and then I knew the rest of the season that none of these points were running out.
“So I actually got punished harder because of not having had any points last year. So in a way, I should have got some points last year!
“But yeah, I just think it’s a very complex thing. So for me to sit here and say we should do this, this and this, and that would be the right way forward is very difficult.”
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