Magnussen reprimanded for 'potentially dangerous manoeuvre'

Haas F1 driver Kevin Magnussen has landed himself in hot water with the race stewards - not for the first time.

The Dane has gained quite a reputation for his unyielding attitude on the track over the last year. This morning's first free practice for the Spanish Grand Prix proved no different.

Magnussen had been running slowly down the main straight near the end of the 90 minute session. He had aborted a flying lap because of a yellow flag. However Sauber's Charles Leclerc was still completing a lap at full speed when he caught the Haas going into turn 1.

Magnussen moved across the racing line, forcing Leclerc to brake and take avoiding action. The Monegasque driver was furious about the incident and complained over the team radio.

"Magnussen needs to understand that he's not alone on track," he said. "Honestly. He's on a slow lap and he stays on the line. Every time."

Sauber team boss Frederic Vasseur was just as angry when asked about the incident after FP1.

“It makes no sense to do something like this in free practice," he said. "I don’t want to say that it makes sense to do it in a race, but I could understand even though it’s stupid. But in free practice it makes no sense."

Magnussen was duly summoned to the stewards for "alleged impeding and a potentially dangerous manoeuvre". He was cleared of the first charge but found guilty of the second, for which he received an official reprimand.

"The Stewards reviewed in-car video, track video, marshalling data and car telemetry regarding the incident," said the FIA's official statement.

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"[Magnussen] explained that he had received a yellow flag at Turn 10 and had aborted his lap.

"He was unaware that the flag had cleared and that [Leclerc] immediately behind him had not aborted his lap as he had not been in the sector when it was yellow.

""The Stewards accepted this explanation and found that there was not a case of Unnecessarily Impeding.

"However, the Stewards reviewed the maneuver of Car 20 at the entry to Turn 1, where the driver of Car 20 moved to the right in front of Car 16 which was overtaking at the time.

"While the cars avoided a collision, the Stewards deemed the manoeuvre to be potentially dangerous and unnecessary, and therefore a breach of Art. 27.4."

Magnussen already has seven penalty points on his superlicence for the last 12 month period. He needs to be careful not to reach 12 or he will be handed an automatic one-race ban.

He clashed with Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly in the last race in Baku, although he has since apologised for the incident.

"He sent me a text message after the weekend to apologise again," Gasly told Ekstra Bladet newspaper in Barcelona. "I was really angry after the race and did not really listen to what he said.

"Everything is fine now. We just have to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Kevin apologised to him and said it was not on purpose," confirmed Haas boss Guenther Steiner. "I think Pierre will get in someone's way another day and then it will be his turn to be criticised."

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