"I didn’t make the rules": Kevin Magnussen defends his aggressive driving in multiple races this season

Haas F1 driver Kevin Magnussen recently defended his aggressive driving in the past few races in the 2024 F1 season. Due to his on-track antics, the Dane has picked up a lot of penalty points and could soon suffer a race ban.

In a few 2024 F1 season races, Haas used a particular tactic to rake constructors' championship points. One of their drivers, usually Nico Hulkenberg, tried to maintain his position in the points, while the other driver, usually Magnussen, defended against cars and kept them from moving forward and stealing positions from Hulkenberg.

Because of this strategy, Kevin Magnussen has driven quite aggressively in the past few races. At Miami GP, his on-track antics to defend against Lewis Hamilton saw him picking up multiple time penalties. In one race weekend at Miami, the Dane picked up five penalty points, increasing his total tally to 10.

The FIA has a rule of banning a driver from one Grand Prix if he collects a total of 12 penalty points within a year. The Haas driver needs to protect himself from two more penalty points until 9 March 2025 to save himself from a race ban.

In an exclusive interview with Autosport, Kevin Magnussen stated that he does not regret his on-track actions despite going really hard at it this season. He stated that he accepts the penalty for his aggressive driving against other drivers.

“So, it’s hard to say that I regret anything that I did… I don’t love playing this game, but also at the same time, I do always try and stay within the rules. Even though I’ve been trying to fight really hard with some guys and I’ve gone over the limit and I’ve got a penalty. Then I accept the penalty,” Magnussen admitted.

On the topic of penalty points and race ban rules in F1, he added that though he does notice an issue with the system, he did not make the rules and accept them as they are.

“There’s been a question of whether the rules are correct for this, which I can definitely sympathise with that and I’ve given my ideas of how they can be better. I do see there is an issue with the rules, but I didn’t make the rules. Don’t hate the player, you know? It’s just the way it is,” the Dane added.

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McLaren team boss's savage verdict on Kevin Magnussen's on-track antics

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella was enraged with how Kevin Magnussen has defended against other cars just for his teammate to score points. As per The Race, Stella blasted Magnussen for intentionally hampering other drivers' races. He urged that rather than penalties being accumulative, the Dane should directly get a race ban and spend time with his family to reflect on his wrongdoings.

“For me it’s actually relatively simple because we have a case of a behaviour being intentional in terms of damaging another competitor. This behaviour is perpetuated within the same race and repeated over the same season. How can penalties be accumulative? They should be exponential," Stella said.

He added:

"It’s not five plus five plus five equals 15. Five plus five plus five equals maybe you need to spend a weekend at home with your family, reflect on your sportsmanship and then go back."

After the 2024 F1 Imola GP, Kevin Magnussen is in 16th place with only one point, while his teammate Nico Hulkenberg stands in 13th place with six points.