IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire
Kevin Magnussen’s opening lap lunge on Sergio Perez at the 2024 Monaco GP wreaked havoc, causing a massive collision between the two which also took out his Haas teammate Nico Hulkenberg. The latter blamed Magnussen, as did Perez, both of whom deemed the attempt unnecessary. One of the main reasons why Perez holds him accountable is the lack of space Magnussen had, and F1 expert Tim Hauraney agrees.
On the latest episode of the Nailing the Apex podcast, Hauraney said,
“If you look at just how much space there was for him to put his car there, I mean, even if there was a gap, right, that gap is still not big enough and wide enough.”
He adds the modern F1 cars are way too big, and pointed out that the part of the circuit where the Haas driver attempted the move, was not ideal for overtakes. “Even on the opening lap when the surface is not as dirty, there’s not as many marbles offline. It’s still not really a place you can go to pass.”
For Haas, Magnussen’s mistake was extremely costly. It added insult to injury after their disqualification from Qualifying the day earlier.
The stewards found the American outfit guilty of technical infringements, as a result of which both Magnussen and Hulkenberg started from the back of the grid. They were already out of contention for the points. But both cars crashing out on lap one was a bad look for the Kannapolis-based team.
It was also a big shunt for Perez, who admitted that he was relieved that he walked away from the incident. There were photographers on the other side of the barrier into which he crashed. And one of them was even reported to be injured.
However, the FIA was lenient on Magnussen, who escaped a penalty. The Dane, on the other hand, refuses to see where he went wrong.
Kevin Magnussen refusing to assume blame for the Monaco GP incident with Sergio Perez
Magnussen already has 10 penalty points to his superlicense. So, if the stewards chose to hand him another two in Monaco, he would be forced to miss out on the Canadian GP in two weeks.
However, in the 31-year-old’s eyes, he was never at fault to begin with.
As quoted by Sky Sports, he said,
“From my point of view, I had a good part of my front on Perez’s rear and when he went to the wall I got pushed to the wall and made contact with him. From my point of view, I was there, and I got squeezed to the wall.”
Perez was shocked, not only by the stewards’ decision to not penalize him, but at Magnussen’s perspective. Perez maintains his stance that the Danish driver was to blame. Thankfully, however, all three involved in the accident escaped unscathed. Putting the blame game behind, their focus will shift onto the next race.
