RB denounced the “unsportsmanlike” tactics used by Haas in the Saudi Arabian GP, accusing the US outfit of purposefully using Kevin Magnussen as a road bloc to help protect the position of teammate Nico Hulkenberg to the detriment of Yuki Tsunoda.
Magnussen was running in thirteenth position behind Tsunoda when he veered off course but gained an advantage over the Japanese driver.
The move was predictably frowned upon by the stewards who handed a 10-second penalty to the Dane, virtually ruining his race.
But Magnussen was sanctioned a second time while battling the Williams of Alex Albon, which increased his handicap to 20 seconds.
This encouraged Magnussen, at the behest of Haas, to put in an extra effort to hold up almost the entire second half of the field while Hulkenberg built up a comfortable cushion ahead of his pitstop, eventually allowing the German to secure P10 and the final point of the race.
“Yuki was fighting for what could have been a P10 finish,” said a visibly angry Laurent Mekies, RB team principal.
“He was then passed by Magnussen, who cut the track to do so and then slowed down the whole pack to let his team mate open a gap to pit in front of all of us.
“It made the penalty imposed on Magnussen meaningless, as it destroyed Yuki’s race.”
RB racing director Alan Permane was equally enraged by Magnussen’s ‘go slow’ tactics and said the team intended on taking the case to the FIA.
“Magnussen drove off the track to deliberately put himself in front of Yuki and then slowed him down by up to two seconds a lap, which allowed Hulkenberg, who hadn’t stopped yet, to create a gap and of course pit in front of all the cars behind,” he said.
“That, to me, doesn’t seem correct and is the very definition of unsportsmanlike behaviour. I’m sure we and other teams will talk to the FIA about it for future races.”
©Haas
Over at Haas, where its rivals saw an “unsportsmanlike” ploy, team boss Ayao Komatsu saw an “amazing team effort” and a smart stratagem.
“Today was an amazing team effort and I’m so happy that it was from great teamwork,” he said.
“We were fighting for P10 – one point – but against eight other drivers, so everything had to be perfect to take the opportunity.
“Today, Kevin got two penalties, but once we realised he was out of points contention, we made a great call and Kev drove fantastically to hold those guys back while setting a target lap time, and Nico drove faultlessly.
“It was a huge team effort, congratulations to everyone.”
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