Steiner: Magnussen defensive driving not 'exaggerated'

Haas boss Guenther Steiner saw nothing wrong with Kevin Magnussen's defensive moves in the Hungarian Grand Prix, where the Dane intensively held his own for 25 laps against Daniel Ricciardo.

Magnussen used all the tricks in the book, and then some, to keep the Renault driver at bay, frequently moving under braking to squash the Aussie's overtaking assaults.

However, the Haas driver's antics earned him a warning from the stewards during the race. But Steiner insisted that was the full extent of the issue.

• Ricciardo 'not impressed' with Magnussen braking tactics

"Race control said he has to stop to move under braking, and that was it," explained the Haas team principal.

"And because there is another driver who does it all the time and gets away with it, that was our answer.

"I think we had a good battle going on for 13th and 14th, otherwise the TV was pretty boring."

The stewards' warning was duly passed on to Magnussen during his battle with Ricciardo, but Steiner said the team itself had not intervened or told its driver to change his tactics, at the risk of gaining more attention from race control.

"We decided to risk even a penalty or getting to the stewards, because I think in the end we are here to race, and I don’t think it was dangerous or anything," added the Italian.

"The battle was about nothing anyway, so at least it was a good show. And I think they had a good fight.

"For sure, Ricciardo is not happy about it, but I don’t think Kevin did anything, you know, exaggerated. It’s like he was trying to keep his position, so I think everybody enjoyed it."

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