Latest penalty leaves Kevin Magnussen two points from F1 race ban

Kevin Magnussen is now just two points away from picking up a race ban after his latest penalty at the F1 Miami Grand Prix.

The Haas driver had a weekend to forget in Miami, picking up four separate penalties during the sprint race for his aggressive defence against Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.

Things didn’t get much better in Sunday’s grand prix, with Magnussen collecting another penalty for colliding with Williams driver Logan Sargeant while battling over 18th place.

The Miami stewards deemed Magnussen wholly to blame for the crash which ended Sargeant’s home race. He was handed a 10-second time penalty as well as two penalty points.

Magnussen has now accumulated 10 penalty points for the current 12-month period and two more will trigger an automatic race ban.

“Per the Driving Standards Guidelines, in order for car 20 [Magnussen] to be given room for an overtaking attempt on the outside, car 20 needed to have the front axle at least alongside the front axle of the other car at the apex of turn two. It was clear that Car 20 did not have its front axle in that position such that it was entitled to room in that corner,” the stewards ruled.

“Further, if this is looked at purely as an overtaking on the inside of turn three, car 20 would also not have had the right to the corner, by the standards for an inside overtake.

“Even if this was viewed as a sequence of corners or a chicane, the decision remains the same. Per the guidelines, priority will be given to the first corner and if you do not have the right to be given room, then you do not get the benefit for the next corner. Car 20 was therefore wholly to blame for the collision that occurred.”

Magnussen also had 20-seconds added to his race time after the event for entering the pits during a Safety Car period without changing his tyres. Crucially, he received no penalty points for this.

“Not a good day again,” Magnussen conceded. “Hopefully I can get some clarity on things going forward.

“What happened today, of course it’s not good. Nonetheless, we move on and try to have a better weekend next weekend.”