F1 News: VCARB To Take Up Kevin Magnussen Saudi Arabia Tactics With The FIA
VCARB has decided to take the matter of Kevin Magnussen's Saudi Arabian GP tactics up with the FIA. The Haas driver overtook Yuki Tsnuoda during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, to deliberately slow the Japanese driver down, and allow teammate Nico Hulkenberg to finish the race within points.
Key Takeaways:
- VCARB has raised concerns with the FIA over Kevin Magnussen's tactics in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which aimed to slow down Yuki Tsunoda and aid teammate Nico Hulkenberg's points finish.
- Despite Magnussen receiving a penalty, VCARB is dissatisfied, citing the impact on Tsunoda's point-scoring opportunity and the team's overall performance.
- VCARB contends that Magnussen's move was unsportsmanlike and plans to discuss the matter with the FIA for future races.
Despite Magnussen serving a 10-second penalty for the 'illegal' overtake, VCARB isn't done with the matter yet, since it compromised Tsunoda's points finish. Thus, the Grand Prix in Jeddah was another opportunity lost for the Red Bull junior team to score a point.
Magnussen picked up a 20-second time penalty during the race in total, the first ten seconds being for causing a collision with Alex Albon. Regardless of the consequences faced by him during the race, VCARB contends that Magnussen's strategic overtake was to slow Tsunoda down and enable Hulkenberg, who had yet to pit due to a different strategy, to create a sufficient gap. This tactic allowed Hulkenberg to pit and rejoin ahead of Tsunoda and the group of cars in the midfield.
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VCARB contends that the tenth place secured by Hulkenberg could have been occupied by Tsunoda instead of his P15 finish. Speaking to the media about the event, VCARB racing director Alan Permane said:
“We started him on the medium tyre, and when the Safety Car came out, pitted him for the hard compound. What then happened was a little difficult to take.
“Magnussen drove off the track to deliberately put himself in front of Yuki and then slowed him down by up to two seconds a lap, which allowed Hulkenberg, who hadn’t stopped yet, to create a gap and of course pit in front of all the cars behind.
“That, to me, doesn’t seem correct, and is the very definition of unsportsmanlike behaviour. I’m sure we and other teams will talk to the FIA about it for future races.”