Kevin Magnussen blasted by rival team principal for his unsportsmanlike conduct: "You need to spend a weekend at home with your family"

Kevin Magnussen was the target of public criticism from rival team principal Andrea Stella for his driving conduct after the F1 Miami GP Sprint. The Danish driver was involved in a heated battle for position in the sprint with Lewis Hamilton, and it involved Kevin just pushing too hard and going off track to gain an advantage.

The Haas driver did that multiple times and was handed multiple 10-second time penalties in the race. After the race, Magnussen admitted that he drove in that manner because he wanted to shield his teammate Nico Hulkenberg and hence help Haas score points. The stewards were not happy bout it and even called the Danish driver to see them.

While no further action was taken, Stella was not impressed by the tactics of Kevin Magnussen and felt that a more stern penalty needed to be imposed. As quoted by Motorsport Week, the McLaren team principal did not hold back and said:

“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 cumulative? They should be exponential."

Stella 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. And if we see that you become loyal, fair and sportsman-like, to your fellow competitors then you can stay in this business. It’s completely unacceptable.”

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Kevin Magnussen's tactics an example of why penalty metrics need to be adjusted

Andrea Stella stressed how Kevin Magnussen's tactics are an example of how the current penalty metrics are probably not strict enough and need to be adjusted. Adding to the point that maybe the penalties need to be added in multiples if the offense is repeated in the race, Stella said:

“I guess the penalty points is still in place. It is in place so I don’t know exactly the situation for some drivers. I have to confess. But it definitely may mean that the metrics might have to be adjusted."

The McLaren team principal added:

“Damaging intentionally the race of competitors just makes no sense from a sportsmanship point of view and this should be addressed immediately because if you are out of the points [and] you get 20 seconds or whatever at the end of your race it doesn’t make any difference."

Kevin Magnussen is currently 15th in the Drivers' Championship, with a tenth-place finish at the Australian Grand Prix being his best so far.