Kevin Magnussen’s race engineer Mark Slade savagely snapped back at the Haas driver during Free Practice 3 at the Mexican Grand Prix, after the Dane tried to blame Slade for an impeding incident.
Traffic has traditionally been a huge issue at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, with this weekend having been absolutely no different.
Drivers have been complaining over their radios about being blocked since Free Practice 1 on Friday, something race engineers tend to receive the blame for.
This was the case during the opening session on Saturday ahead of qualifying, where Magnussen tried to blame the incredibly experienced Slade for not informing him about a rapidly closing Charles Leclerc in the middle sector.
Want to work in Formula 1? Browse the latest F1 job vacancies
Leclerc was forced to back out of his push lap as Magnussen remained partly on the racing line ahead of him, to which the Haas driver insisted over the radio that he “didn’t know” that the Monegasque was behind him.
“Yep, Leclerc, I didn’t know he was coming,” Magnussen said over the radio to Slade.
Slade – who was Mika Hakkinen’s race engineer during the Finn’s title success almost 25 years ago – wasn’t having any of what Magnussen was saying and snapped back by informing the Dane that he “did warn” the driver.
“Well I did warn you about it and then you asked me about those extra laps so I can’t do it all at once,” Slade replied.
Magnussen hasn’t boasted the strongest pace throughout the weekend and was eliminated in Q1 in qualifying.
The Dane will provisionally start from P17 on the grid; however, there are a huge number of investigations for the stewards to work through.
He was just over a tenth of a second slower than the time he required to be safe, whilst he was two-tenths slower than team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.
READ: Sergio Perez suggests reason for struggles
Hulkenberg progressed to Q2 but failed to make the cut for Q3, with him having to settle for 13th on the grid provisionally.
Somewhat ironically given who Magnussen blocked in FP3, it was actually Leclerc who claimed a shock pole position, as Ferrari sensationally locked-out the front row.
Ferrari found remarkable pace right at the death of Q3, putting them in the best position for Sunday’s race.