Magnussen slams the FIA for ruling after incident with Hamilton

Kevin Magnussen ended the Canadian Grand Prix in P17.

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen does not understand why he was ordered to pit for a new front wing after contact with Sir Lewis Hamilton in Canada.

Haas had equalled their best-ever overall qualifying result in Montreal when the Dane started fifth ahead of team-mate Mick Schumacher, but he once again connected with Hamilton on the opening lap as they went side-by-side through Turn Three.

It left a piece of endplate hanging off the front wing and, with the stewards concerned that it may be a safety issue, they told Haas to pit their driver for a new nose.

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It sent the 29-year-old out of the points and, after staying out for the whole race after that for track position, he was passed by five cars following a late Safety Car as he ended P17 and last of the classified runners.

Magnussen was miffed as to why he ended up in that position in the first place, as he insists that the damage should not have incurred a pit stop.

“It’s not the team’s decision, the FIA thought that we had to pit with that. It was nothing,” he said. 

“This is normal, you know, you have to be able to finish the race with a little bit of scratches on your car, you can’t have it in one piece. 

“I get it if the whole front wing is hanging by one or whatever, it was nothing so I don’t get it.”

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Schumacher is now one race away from equalling Toranosuke Takagi’s 32 races in Formula 1 without scoring any points, which would put the German fifth in the all-time list of most races without a point.

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He was running in the top 10 in the early stages, but a reliability failure put pay to his running, resulting in a miserable day for Haas.

“We had a PU issue which is obviously very unfortunate because I think we were doing a good race to that point,” explained Schumacher.

“Our feeling in the car was great and I think that the pace was looking not too bad either. So quite upsetting but we still have a few more races to go.

“I think in terms of pace yesterday but also today, it looked very strong so it’s a good thing. 

“We can take it away from here and put it into play for Silverstone.”

The highs are very high and the lows very low in F1, as Haas experienced last weekend in Canada through their contrasting fortunes on Saturday and Sunday.