F1 News: Kevin Magnussen's Baku Ban Sparks Outcry From Fellow F1 Drivers

Kevin Magnussen , the Haas F1 driver, has recently been embroiled in controversy following a race ban for the upcoming Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The ban stems from a penalty incurred during the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, where Magnussen accumulated 12 penalty points—an automatic trigger for a race suspension.

His penalty was the result of a 10-second time penalty and additional points for what the stewards termed "an unsafe move" while attempting to overtake Pierre Gasly. This has led to significant backlash from his fellow drivers, who have deemed the punishment excessively harsh.

Teammate Nico Hulkenberg openly criticized the penalization and told the media :

"Obviously, there's a history of how that happened and he accumulated all those penalty points but if you look just isolated at the Monza incident, I think, that's racing.

"I mean, it's pretty straightforward, fair and square racing. I don't see two penalty points for that, or that 10-second penalty even - that's very harsh.

"That's my opinion, but most drivers feel the same way about that. I had a case with Fernando [Alonso] in Austria, in the sprint race, where I kind of tried to make a move in turn three, and locked up and went a bit wide, and he had to go off the track.

"But, I mean, that's racing; to overtake we have to leave the comfort zone and take some risk and then that kind of happens sometimes.

"It seems a bit that the stewards, whenever there's a little contact, they want to get involved. They want to have a consequence for it, which I think the drivers feel is not really necessary for every contact. Maybe the penalty guidelines need to be reviewed and then changed because we need to be able to race."

Similarly, Yuki Tsunoda from AlphaTauri shared that he narrowly avoided a race ban himself and called the current 12-point maximum "too strict," particularly considering the demanding nature of the 24-race calendar.

Mercedes driver George Russell weighed in on the issue, acknowledging the possibility that the penalties might serve as a warning to lower racing divisions against dangerous driving.

However, he noted, "No one's been banned in 12 years," which has sparked concerns about the consistency and fairness in enforcing penalties across the board.

Ayumu Komatsu, principal at Haas, echoed these sentiments by emphasizing that while he understood the need for regulations, the guidelines themselves warrant reevaluation.

The consensus among drivers is clear: a more nuanced approach to evaluating racing incidents is necessary to foster a competitive yet fair environment on the track.