Kevin Magnussen found himself on the receiving end of a "pretty desperate" move by Sergio Perez in the Japanese Grand Prix that ruined both drivers' race.
The Haas driver was settling in the mid-field ten laps into the race when Perez, who was chasing from behind following an early pitstop to change a damaged front wing on his Red Bull, lunged up the inside of the Dane at Suzuka's Turn 11 hairpin on lap 12.
Perez's clumsy move predictably led to a contact between the two drivers, with the Red Bull driver nudging the Haas into a spin.
"I just got hit on my rear tyre," said an unimpressed Magnussen. "It was a pretty desperate move, but it is what it is. I got spun around and then we had to pit."
While Perez was penalized for the ill-fated maneuver and eventually retired from the race, Magnussen was able to make it to the checkered flag.
But the Dane's two-stop strategy plan went out the window as he pitted immediately after the clash, thus cutting short his initial stint on the medium tyre.
"That was too early for the two-stop strategy and the tyre degradation that we had on our car," Magnussen said.
"So it made that situation a lot worse by having to pit at that point. It ended our race there – and his as well, of course."
Amid a chaotic race, Perez at least owned up to his blunder.
"I was struggling quite a lot on the braking with the front end," said the Mexican. "I tried to dive in, but then I just couldn’t stop in time and it was my mistake."
On the other side of the Haas garage, Nico Hulkenberg's day was less eventful, but hardly any better as the German concluded his afternoon P14, just one spot ahead of Magnussen.
"I think I stayed out of the messy part at the start as on the left, two cars ahead of me, there was contact," he explained.
"I managed to capitalize from that on the inside line and took three or four cars which was quite nice and rewarding.
"I then gained one further position from someone else, so it was good. We went into the race with a three-stop intention, obviously we’re not the best on tyre management, so I think it was the right call."
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