Magnussen on reprieve after a more than messy weekend

If he explained his die-hard behavior in the Sprint by a strategy aimed at improving his teammate's chances Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen had a down Sunday in Miami. Penalized for contact with the Williams de Logan sargeant, leading to the American's retirement, Magnussen then received a new penalty. He indeed returned to the pits under Safety Car regime but his team did not change his tyres, which is nevertheless required by the regulations.

SAFETY CAR ⚠️

Clash between Magnussen and Sargeant 💥
The American retires at home ❌#MiamiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/xVTHW7Kdjf

— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) May 5, 2024

Logically, it was a defeated Magnussen who presented himself to the press at the end of the Grand Prix. Ranked 19th and last, he received a 10-second penalty for the contact, and 20 seconds for the Safety Car infraction. Enough to bring his total to 1'05 penalty over the two races, after the 35 seconds obtained in Saturday's Sprint.

“It was not a good day again. Hopefully I could clarify some things moving forward. What happened today was not good of course, but we are moving forward and we hope to have a better weekend in Imola. »

Soon a suspension race?

Beyond the many seconds inflicted, which pushed him back in the standings, Magnussen also has to deal with a now well-stocked points license. Holder of five penalty points before this weekend in Florida, the Dane simply doubled his total this weekend. He actually collected three points in the Sprint race, for going off the track three times while gaining an advantage over his opponents. He also received two penalty points for the collision with Sargeant.

Enough to bring his total to 10, out of a limit of 12. If a driver reaches twelve penalty points in less than a year, he is systematically suspended from the following race, and his counter is then reset to zero. Since the introduction of this system in 2014, no pilot has reached this stage, Pierre Gasly having come close, with him also 10 points on his license.

But where things can get complicated for Kevin Magnussen is that his first penalty points were acquired... in Saudi Arabia this year! Thus, the driver at number 20 will keep his points until March 9, 2025. Each penalty point is in fact removed from the total once 12 months have passed since the offense committed. Magnussen will thus lose two of his penalty points before the start of the 2025 F1 season.

But he now knows that he must be careful until the last Grand Prix of this year, otherwise he will have to give up his seat at a future event...